Method and apparatus for registration of fulfillment services

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments of a method and apparatus whereby a single action may control fulfillment services are described. Various embodiments may include an inventory management system associated with a fulfillment services provider. The inventory management system may be configured to implement a fulfillment services management interface configured to generate a user interface providing an indication of item(s) listed for sale by a merchant. In various embodiments, order fulfillment services for such items may not be provided by a fulfillment services provider. Additionally, the user interface may provide a single action user interface element for the merchant to register the one or more items for fulfillment by a fulfillment services provider. The inventory management system may, in response to receiving an indication of activation of the single action user interface element, register the item(s) for fulfillment by the fulfillment services provider.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to computer-implemented management of fulfillmentservices and, more particularly, to management of inventory fulfillmentservices.

2. Description of the Related Art

In order to offer customers a variety of items readily available fordelivery, many merchants (whether engaging in electronic or conventional“brick and mortar” commerce) hold various quantities of such itemswithin inventory facilities. Keeping items in inventory may serve tobuffer variations in customer demand or a manufacturer or distributor'sability to supply various items. For example, different items offeredfor sale by a merchant may have different manufacturer lead times.Holding quantities of such items as inventory may enable a merchant tooffer consistent availability of these items to customers despite thedifferent lead times.

However, in some circumstances, holding inventory may present variouscosts or disadvantages to a merchant. For example, inventory storagefacilities may be expensive to provision and maintain, particularly forsmaller merchants who may not be able to efficiently and profitablydistribute the fixed costs of such facilities across a limited quantityof inventory. Moreover, should the need arise, scaling an inventorysystem to accommodate increased demand or volume may be an expensiveproposition requiring substantial investment in technology, facilitiesand/or staffing.

A merchant's holding of its own inventory may also present disadvantagesto customers. As electronic commerce grows in popularity, many merchantsincreasingly list their offerings along with other merchants viaelectronic marketplaces that provide a common interface through whichcustomers may search for items and place orders. However, if differentmerchants are ultimately responsible for fulfilling their own respectiveorders through such a marketplace, the customer's ordering experiencefor a given item may vary considerably depending on the merchant fromwhich the item is ordered. For example, a merchant that has little skillor poor processes for order fulfillment may be slow to ship an item, mayship the wrong item, may deliver damaged goods, or may otherwise createa negative customer experience. Such a negative experience may reflectnot only on the merchant from which the customer ordered, but also onother merchants in the electronic marketplace, possibly decreasingcustomer confidence in the marketplace itself.

In addition, individuals, small merchants such as resale shops, or otherentities may have single units of items or small quantities of possiblyheterogeneous items, possibly but not necessarily used items, which theywish to sell via an electronic commerce channel. Conventional electroniccommerce channels that allow customers to list items for sale mayrequire a separate listing process to list each item with the electroniccommerce channel, and require the selling customer to handle most or allaspects of shipping each sold item to the particular customer thatpurchases the item. For example, if an individual wants to list twentyitems for sale via an electronic commerce channel, the individual mayhave to complete twenty different listing processes, one to list eachitem, and then the individual may potentially have to make as many astwenty separate trips to a carrier or delivery service drop-off to shipthe items to fulfill orders or requests for the items. The individualmay also have to create shipping labels for each package shipped.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of a method and apparatus whereby a single actionmay control fulfillment services are described. Various embodiments mayinclude an inventory management system associated with a fulfillmentservices provider. The inventory management system may be configured toimplement a fulfillment services management interface configured togenerate a user interface providing an indication of item(s) listed forsale by a merchant. In various embodiments, order fulfillment servicesfor such items may not be provided by the fulfillment services provider.Additionally, the user interface may provide a single action userinterface element for the merchant to register the one or more items forfulfillment by the fulfillment services provider. The inventorymanagement system may, in response to receiving an indication ofactivation of the single action user interface element, register theitem(s) for fulfillment by the fulfillment services provider. In variousembodiments, registering the item(s) for fulfillment by the fulfillmentservices provider may include one or more of: providing the merchantwith information for conveying units of the item(s) to the fulfillmentservices provider, modifying sales listings for the item(s) to indicatethat orders for the one or more items are fulfilled by the fulfillmentservices provider, and including the item(s) as available forpromotional or special handling services offered for other items forwhich orders are fulfilled by said fulfillment services provider.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a fulfillmentcenter.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a fulfillmentservices registration interface.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a fulfillmentservices management interface.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method throughwhich a fulfillment services provider may receive and process a requestfor inventory fulfillment services from a merchant.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method offulfilling orders for items on behalf of a number of merchants.

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a packing slip that may be includedin a package resulting from the order fulfillment method of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a web page.

FIG. 7 illustrates a fulfillment services provider and inventorymanagement system that provides, via a fulfillment services registrationinterface, inventory fulfillment services to customers who have singleunits of items or small quantities of possibly heterogeneous items thatthey wish to list with the fulfillment services provider, according toone embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a computer-implemented method forproviding inventory fulfillment services to customers who have singleunits of items or small quantities of possibly heterogeneous items thatthey wish to list for sale with a fulfillment services provider,according to various embodiments.

FIGS. 9A-G and FIG. 10 through FIG. 14 illustrate exemplary userinterfaces that may be provided via a fulfillment services registrationinterface for providing access to inventory fulfillment services tolisting customers who have single units of items or small quantities ofpossibly heterogeneous items that they wish to list for sale with afulfillment services provider, according to embodiments.

FIG. 15 illustrates a fulfillment services provider and inventorymanagement system that includes a fulfillment services managementinterface, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary display that enables a user to performa single action, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 17 illustrates a fulfillment services provider and inventorymanagement system that includes a fulfillment services managementinterface, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 18. illustrates a method for performing one or more actions inresponse to only a single action being performed, according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of acomputer system.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to limit the invention to theparticular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within thespirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appendedclaims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Fulfillment Center Overview

One embodiment of a fulfillment center configured to store inventoryitems for customer order fulfillment is illustrated in FIG. 1. In theillustrated embodiment, an enterprise 5 includes a fulfillment center 10that in turn includes an inventory storage facility 20 as well as aninventory management system 30. Storage facility 20 may be configured tostore an arbitrary number of inventory items 35 a-n. As described ingreater detail below, system 30 may be configured to receive customerorders for various ones of items 35 from one or more customers 50 viaone or more of an arbitrary number of different merchants 40 a-d.Additionally, system 30 may be configured to initiate and/or coordinateactions resulting in the shipment of ordered items 35 to correspondingcustomers 50.

Generally speaking, fulfillment center 10 may be configured to receiveand store different kinds of items 35 from various sources, such aswholesalers, distributors, or merchants 40, for example. Items 35 maygenerally encompass any type of tangible object or substance that may bereceived for storage. For example and without limitation, items 35 mayinclude media items (e.g., books, compact discs, videotape and/or DVDs),electronic devices, computers and related peripherals and equipment,consumer or commercial appliances, clothing, prescription and/orover-the-counter pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, or other suitableitems. It is noted that items 35 may be stocked, managed or dispensed interms of discrete, countable units or multiples of units, such aspackages, cartons, crates, pallets or other suitable aggregations.Alternatively, some items 35 such as bulk products, commodities, etc.may be stored in continuous or arbitrarily divisible amounts that maynot be inherently organized into countable units. Such items 35 may bemanaged in terms of measurable quantities such as units of length, area,volume, weight, time duration or other dimensional propertiescharacterized by units of measurement. Generally speaking, a quantity ofan item 35 may refer to either a countable number of individual oraggregate units of an item 35 or a measurable amount of an item 35, asappropriate.

Items 35 received at fulfillment center 10 for storage may be storedwithin inventory storage facility 20, which may include any suitablecombination or arrangement of item storage structures. For example,facility 20 may include racks, bins, pallets or other types of storageapparatus arranged in a grid or other fashion. In some embodiments,facility 20 may include different types of storage suitable for items 35having special storage requirements. For example, certain types of items35 may be perishable, fragile or volatile and may require storage undercontrolled temperature, atmospheric or other conditions.Correspondingly, facility 20 may include refrigerated or other types ofstorage areas configured to satisfy special environmental requirementsof certain items 35. It is contemplated that in some embodiments, items35 may be stored within facility 20 in different configurations than inwhich they are received. For example, units of items 35 may be receivedin boxes, on pallets, or in other aggregate units, and may be unpackedor otherwise disaggregated for storage as individual units within bins,on shelves, or in other storage structures within facility 20.

Inventory management system 30 may generally be configured to track andcontrol the status and movement of inventory items 35 throughfulfillment center 10. In one embodiment, as described in greater detailbelow in conjunction with the description of FIG. 19, system 30 mayinclude computer-accessible media configured to store instructions thatare executable, e.g. by a processor or computer system, to detect eventsthat relate to items 35 and to generate or initiate actions in responseto such events. For example, system 30 may detect events relating to thearrival of inventory items 35 from a supplier or merchant, and mayresponsively instruct an agent (e.g., a mechanical agent or human agent)to process the received items 35 and store them appropriately withinstorage facility 20. Similarly, system 30 may be configured to detectorders for various items 35 that may arrive from merchants 40 on behalfof customers 50. Responsively, system 30 may be configured to instructan agent to select the appropriate item(s) 35 for a received order fromstorage facility 20 and prepare the selected item(s) 35 for shipping orother conveyance to a corresponding customer 50. In some embodiments,whenever units of a given item 35 are stored within or selected fromstorage facility 20, system 30 may update an indication corresponding tothe given item 35 to reflect its inventory status. For example, such anindication may reflect the number of units currently stored withinfacility 20, the number of units that have been selected from facility20 but that have not yet left fulfillment center 10, the number of unitsof given item 35 that are on order, and/or any other suitable itemstatus information. System 30 may also be configured to process eventsrelating to the processing of damaged or defective items 35, returnsreceived from customers 50, or other exceptional events.

Merchants 40 may arrange to offer various ones of items 35 in commerceto customers 50. Generally speaking, an item 35 may be offered incommerce by a merchant according to any suitable business model. Forexample, an item 35 may be offered in commerce on the basis of a sale,rental, lease, auction, barter, credit, licensing, royalty or any othertype of transaction. Merchants 40 may offer items 35 in commerce throughany of a variety of channels. For example, a given merchant 40 maypresent offers of items 35 via electronic commerce (e-commerce) portalsaccessible by customers 50. Such e-commerce offerings may variouslyinclude listing items 35 via a web-based entity (e.g., a web site orpage) hosted by the given merchant 40 and presented as an offeringentity distinct from enterprise 5, or listing items 35 via a web-basedentity hosted by enterprise 5 on behalf of the given merchant 40.

In some embodiments, a merchant 40 may list items 35 via a generalweb-based entity hosted by enterprise 5, such as a marketplace or forumin which many merchants 40 may list offerings. Generally speaking, amarketplace e-commerce channel may generally refer to a web-based entitythrough which multiple merchants 40 may offer items 35 to customers 50via one or more web pages. For example, a marketplace may be organizedto present to customers 50 one or more web pages listing the variousmerchants 40 offering a particular item 35 in commerce according tovarious terms (e.g., price, availability, condition, etc.).Alternatively, a marketplace may be organized to present to customers 50one or more web pages corresponding to respective virtual storefronts ofmerchants 40, where each storefront indicates the various offerings of acorresponding merchant 40. In some embodiments, a marketplace may beimplemented via a web services application programming interface (API),described below, rather than as one or more web pages. For example,catalog information, ordering functions and other aspects of amarketplace may be implemented as web services functions that may beinvoked by various parties to present items 35 in commerce to customers50. Other configurations of e-commerce marketplaces are possible andcontemplated.

A merchant's e-commerce offerings may also include listing items 35 viaa third-party web entity distinct from enterprise 5 and the merchant 40,such as a third-party auction web entity. It is also contemplated that amerchant 40 may present e-commerce offerings through entities other thanweb-based entities. For example, a merchant 40 may present suchofferings through electronic mail, electronic bulletin boards, or otherelectronic channels.

In some embodiments, merchants 40 may also offer items 35 in commerce tocustomers 50 through non-electronic channels, such as catalog, telephoneor physical storefront channels, for example. Alternatively, somemerchants 40 may offer items 35 in commerce through a combination ofdifferent channels. It is also noted that some merchants, such asmerchant 40 d, may be affiliated with the enterprise 5 that providesfulfillment services to merchants 40 in general, although in otherembodiments, enterprise 5 may provide fulfillment services for items 35without operating as a merchant for those items.

Generally speaking, customer(s) 50 may include any entity that may placean order for one or more items 35 via one or more merchants 40. Forexample, a customer 50 may include an individual, institution,corporation, business, organization or other entity. Customers 50 mayplace orders with merchants 40 via any suitable channel, such as one ofthe e-commerce channels described above, or via a non-electronic orderchannel. A customer 50 may be an entity that is ultimately legallyand/or fiscally responsible for an order, but need not be such anentity. Similarly, a customer 50 may or may not be the intendedrecipient of items associated with a given order. For example, acustomer 50 may place an order for items 35 on behalf of another entitythat may bear liability for payment or may be the intended recipient. Insome embodiments, a customer 50 may include multiple individuals orentities that consent to have their ordered items 35 shipped together.For example, a customer 50 may correspond to a group of individuals inthe same household or business.

After a given customer 50 places an order for one or more items 35, theorder may be fulfilled. Generally speaking, the fulfillment process mayinclude selecting from storage the item(s) 35 specified in the order,packaging selected item(s) 35 appropriately for the mode in which theywill be conveyed to the customer 50 or other intended recipient, andconveying the package or packages to the recipient. For example,selected item(s) may be packaged in one or more boxes, envelopes orother types of containers along with protective material, promotionalmaterials (e.g., advertising leaflets or brochures), a packing slip orinvoice. The packing container may then be sealed, appropriatelylabeled, and tendered to a common carrier (e.g., the United StatesPostal Service or another carrier) or another type of carrier ordelivery service for delivery to the intended recipient.

Fulfillment Services Request Processing

As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1, fulfillment center 10 may beconfigured to offer fulfillment services to a variety of merchants 40that may be internal or external to the enterprise associated withfulfillment center 10. In general, fulfillment services may include anyactions relating to the storage and processing of items 35 withinfulfillment center 10 as well as the fulfillment of specific customerorders for various ones of items 35. For example, fulfillment servicesmay include those tasks involved in receiving items 35 into inventory,such as taking physical receipt of units or quantities of items 35,examining and/or evaluating the condition of received items 35,unpacking or repackaging items 35 if necessary, and storing items 35within storage facility 20. Fulfillment services may also includeselecting or picking items 35 from storage facility 20 in response to acustomer order, as well as the packaging and shipping tasks describedabove. In some embodiments, fulfillment services may include other tasksundertaken on behalf of a merchant 40, such as inspecting or monitoringthe quantity and/or condition of items 35 while stored in storagefacility 20, receiving and processing items 35 returned from customers50, processing and disposing of items 35 that are unmarketable forvarious reasons (e.g., items 35 that are surplus, damaged, expired,spoiled, etc.), engaging in customer service activities (e.g.,responding to complaints, inquiries, etc.) with customers 50, or othertypes of tasks. Embodiments of fulfillment center 10 configured toprovide fulfillment services to merchants 40 may also be referred to asfulfillment services providers.

In some instances, fulfillment center 10 may provide fulfillmentservices to merchants 40 with greater economies of scale than ifmerchants 40 were to perform their own fulfillment services. Forexample, the incremental cost of providing a square foot of storage areain a large fulfillment center 10 (e.g., one comprising hundreds ofthousands of square feet of storage area) may be significantly lowerthan the cost incurred by a small merchant 40, which may have limitedspace for storage or may be forced by local market conditions to retainmore space than required for that merchant's inventory. Similarly,fulfillment center 10 may implement sophisticated inventory tracking andmanagement techniques that might be costly and cumbersome to implementon the scale of an individual merchant 40, such as RFID (Radio FrequencyIdentification) of items, dynamic scheduling and optimization of itemselection across multiple orders, real-time inventory tracking withrespect to order, receiving and shipping activity, or other inventorymanagement techniques. As described in greater detail below, in someembodiments fulfillment center 10 may be configured to consolidate asingle customer's orders from several merchants 40, which may realizeadditional economies of scale, e.g., by reducing packaging, itemhandling and shipping costs.

Arranging the provision of fulfillment services to various merchants 40may present challenges, however. For example, merchants 40 may operateas distinct enterprises having methods and systems for inventorymanagement and accounting that differ from one another as well as fromenterprise 5. As a result, merchants 40 and enterprise 5 may lack auniform way of identifying inventory items 35. For example, a givenmerchant 40 may identify and manage a particular item 35 by that item'sUniversal Product Code (UPC), whereas the same item 35 may be identifiedwithin fulfillment center 10 by a proprietary unique identificationnumber. Further, merchants 40 may wish to dynamically change thefulfillment services they receive for various items 35. For example, aparticular merchant 40 may wish to expeditiously transition fromperforming its own fulfillment for an item 35 to receiving fulfillmentservices for that item from fulfillment center 10, or vice versa. Ifsuch a transition were to require manual approvals (e.g., of themerchant's eligibility or the item's suitability for fulfillmentservices) and/or a manual integration of relevant aspects of theparticular merchant's inventory and order management systems with thoseof fulfillment center 10, the overhead of arranging for fulfillmentservices may significantly erode the savings or efficiencies provided bysuch services. For example, if enterprise 5 were condition processing offulfillment services requests on manual lookup and entry of dataprovided by a merchant 40, days or weeks might elapse.

In one embodiment, fulfillment center 10 may be configured to provide aregistration interface through which a merchant may register to receivefulfillment services for one or more items 35, where operation of theregistration interface to process a request for fulfillment servicesdoes not require human intervention. For example, the interface mayprovide an automated process through which a merchant may complete thosetasks necessary to initiate fulfillment services for various items 35.As described in greater detail below, in various embodiments such anautomated process may include evaluating the credentials of a merchant40 (e.g., whether the merchant is known to enterprise 5, in goodfinancial status, etc.), assessing the items 35 for which fulfillmentservices have been requested (e.g., whether the items 35 qualify for therequested services), and providing the requesting merchant 40 with theinformation needed to complete the fulfillment services request (e.g.,providing labels to be applied to items 35 for fulfillment centerinventory control, shipping labels for shipping items to a fulfillmentcenter 10, instructions, status reports, or other information). Thefulfillment center's portion of each of these tasks may be performedautomatically and without human intervention, as detailed below.

One embodiment of a fulfillment services registration interface isillustrated in FIG. 2A. In the illustrated embodiment, inventorymanagement system 30 of fulfillment center 10 is shown to include aregistration interface 200 configured to interact with a database 210.In one embodiment, registration interface 200 may be configured topresent an interface through which a given merchant 40 may specify arequest for fulfillment services, enter data related to the requestedservices, and engage in those processing actions deemed necessary byenterprise 5 for given merchant 40 to receive the requested services.For example, in one embodiment interface 200 may be configured topresent to a merchant 40 one or more web pages accessible via the publicInternet or a private intranet (e.g., a private network maintained by oron behalf of enterprise 5 requiring some level of authentication orsecured connection for access). Such a web page may include fillableforms, menus, executable applications (e.g., applications coded in Java™Javascript or another language suitable for web-based execution) orother web-based interface elements.

In another embodiment, interface 200 may be configured to present aproprietary or non-web-based registration interface to merchants 40. Forexample, interface 200 may be accessible through a dialup ornon-web-based Internet connection, such as via a terminal emulationprogram such as telnet, or via another type of standard or proprietaryapplication suitable for transmitting information between a merchant 40and inventory management system 30. In yet another embodiment, interface200 may include a web services interface for merchant fulfillmentservices registration, as described in greater detail below. In someembodiments, interface 200 may include other types or modes of interfaceimplementations, including various combinations of the aforementionedtechniques, configured for communicating with merchants 40 to performactivities related to registering for or managing use of fulfillmentservices.

In the illustrated embodiment, interface 200 may be configured to storefulfillment services registration data received from merchants 40, orother data that is derived from or produced as a result of or inrelation to a merchant's fulfillment services registration activity,within database 210. Generally speaking, database 210 may include anysuitable type of application or data structure that may be configured asa persistent data repository. For example, database 210 may beconfigured as a relational database that includes one or more tables ofcolumns and rows and that may be searched or queried according to aquery language, such as a version of Structured Query Language (SQL).Alternatively, database 210 may be configured as a structured data storethat includes data records formatted according to a markup language,such as a version of eXtensible Markup Language (XML). In otherembodiments, database 210 may be implemented using one or morearbitrarily or minimally structured data files managed and accessiblethrough any suitable type of application.

Database 210 may generally be configured to store any kind of datarelated to merchants 40, items 35, and/or requests for fulfillmentservices in various stages of processing. For example, database 210 maybe configured to store identifying information about merchants 40, suchas names and address of merchant personnel or departments, merchantbilling and shipping address information, merchant banking or otherfinancial information, or other identifying information. Database 210may also be configured to store current and/or historical statusinformation regarding inventory or sales transactions of merchants 40,such as a merchant's order history, payment history, the status of amerchant's inventory items 35 within fulfillment center 10, the statusof any pending fulfillment services requests for a merchant, or othertypes of status information. In some embodiments, database 210 may alsobe configured to store identifier mapping information for items 35. Forexample, database 210 may store records that relate a given merchant40's identifier for a particular item 35 (e.g., a merchant's stockkeeping unit (SKU) identifier) with an identifier that may be specificto enterprise 5 or to fulfillment center 10. Such mapping informationmay be used, for example, to associate a merchant's fulfillment servicesrequest

It is noted that database 210 need not be integrated within inventorymanagement system 30, or even within fulfillment center 10. In someembodiments, merchant and/or inventory data may be stored in a number ofdifferent data stores distributed throughout enterprise 5. For example,merchant financial data may be stored in an accounting databaseassociated with an accounting department of enterprise 5 that may bedistinct from a fulfillment department such as fulfillment center 10.Similarly, in some embodiments interface 200 may be configured tointeract with a variety of systems, applications or databases within orexternal to inventory management system 30 in addition to or instead ofdatabase 210.

One embodiment of a method through which a fulfillment services provider(or simply, provider) such as fulfillment center 10 may receive andprocess a request for inventory fulfillment services from a merchant 40is illustrated in FIG. 3. It is contemplated that in variousembodiments, the illustrated method or a suitable variant thereof may beimplemented via computer-executed instructions stored on acomputer-accessible medium, as described in greater detail below inconjunction with the description of FIG. 19, or via dedicated computinghardware devices that may be state-dependent (e.g., state machines) butwhich may not execute discrete instructions per se. It is furthercontemplated that in some embodiments, some or all of the illustratedmethod may be implemented by decision logic included within interface200, while in other embodiments interface 200 may be configured to relaymerchant state information (e.g., inputs or outputs of the fulfillmentservices registration process) to and from other executable components,systems or devices within inventory management system 30 or fulfillmentcenter 10. In such other embodiments, some or all of the illustratedmethod may be implemented by components other than interface 200. It isnoted that in various embodiments, a merchant may submit a singlefulfillment services request applicable to multiple different items 35,or may submit respective requests for each of several items 35. Althoughexamples discussed hereinafter may refer to processing of a single item35, it is understood that the method may be applicable to the concurrentfulfillment services request processing of multiple different items 35.

In the illustrated embodiment, operation begins in block 300 where arequest for inventory fulfillment services is received by a fulfillmentservices provider from a merchant 40. For example, such a request may bereceived via one embodiment of registration interface 200 as a result ofa merchant 40 signing into a secure web page using a merchant identifierand an appropriate credential (e.g., a login name and password, or anyother suitable type of credential), and subsequently selecting an optionto request fulfillment services (e.g., a link, button, etc.) displayedvia the secure web page. In other embodiments, such a request may bereceived via web services calls or via a mode of communication that doesnot employ web-based protocols.

Upon receiving a fulfillment services request from a merchant 40, theprovider may determine whether the requesting merchant is eligible toreceive fulfillment services (block 302). In some embodiments, merchanteligibility for fulfillment services may depend on the merchant'shistorical behavior. For example, the current status or history of themerchant's prior transactions with the provider or another enterprisemay be examined to determine whether the merchant has engaged infraudulent or questionable transactions with customers, vendors, theprovider, or other parties. In some embodiments, a merchant'screditworthiness, customer service history, or any other data related tothe merchant (or, in some cases, related to fiscally responsibleentities or individuals associated with the merchant, such asguarantors, principals, executives, etc.) may be taken into account whenconsidering a merchant's eligibility for fulfillment services, and suchdata may include data obtained from third parties such as creditreporting agencies, business references, customers and the like.

In various embodiments, the provider may implement decision models ofvarying complexity taking into account any of the foregoing types ofmerchant data or other types not specifically mentioned in order torender a decision as to whether the requesting merchant is eligible forfulfillment services. For example, in one embodiment any history offraudulent behavior may disqualify a merchant, whereas in otherembodiments a more sophisticated risk analysis model may consider suchbehavior in the context of other data points. It is contemplated that insome embodiments, eligibility for fulfillment services may depend on thetype or volume of services requested. For example, a merchant 40 havinglittle history or questionable history may be allowed access tofulfillment services on a trial or probationary basis, with such accessrestricted to certain types, quantities, or value of items 35, orrestricted on some other basis.

If the requesting merchant 40 is determined to be ineligible forfulfillment services, the merchant may be prevented from proceeding withautomated fulfillment services request processing (block 304). In someembodiments, the merchant may be directed to contact a fulfillmentservices agent (e.g., a customer service representative) for furtherinformation or assistance in processing the fulfillment servicesrequest, for example to receive an explanation of the reasons fordisqualification and of actions that may be taken (if any) to remedy thesituation.

If the requesting merchant 40 is determined to be eligible forfulfillment services, the provider may determine whether the merchant isalready registered to receive fulfillment services (block 306). In oneembodiment, determining a merchant's registration status may includedetermining whether the merchant has supplied data that the providerdeems necessary to perform fulfillment services on behalf of themerchant. For example, registration may be contingent upon a merchant 40agreeing (e.g., electronically or in writing) to a fulfillment servicesparticipation agreement that details obligations and expectations of theprovider and the merchant relating to fulfillment services (such as themerchant's agreeing to abide by various financial, procedural, customerservice or other policies). Registration may also be contingent upon amerchant 40 providing sufficient identifying information, as set forthbelow. In some embodiments, determining whether a merchant is registeredmay include determining whether the merchant has previously registeredfor fulfillment services, and if so, assuming that the merchant isregistered without checking each data item required of the merchant forregistration. Also, in some embodiments, if the previous registration orany previous fulfillment services activity on behalf of the merchantoccurred more than a threshold period of time prior to the currentfulfillment services request, the merchant may be required to providesome or all of the registration data once again. It is noted that insome embodiments, determination of a merchant's registration status mayoccur prior to determination of the merchant's eligibility forfulfillment services.

If the requesting merchant 40 is determined not to be registered, theprovider may request registration data from the merchant 40 (block 308).For example, a fillable web form or other request for merchant input maybe provided or displayed to the merchant 40 via interface 200. Requestedinput may include information such as the merchant's name, phone number,address, bank name, bank routing number and account number, taxpayeridentification information, and/or any other suitable information.Additionally, if necessary or appropriate, a participation agreement maybe conveyed to the merchant 40 via interface 200, along with asolicitation for the merchant to expressly accept or refuse theagreement. The merchant 40 may then enter or supply the requested datain a manner suitable to the mode in which the request was delivered,e.g., by filling out a web-based form.

The provider may then attempt to validate the registration data providedby the merchant 40 (block 310). For example, the provider may check tosee that all required data has been provided, and may corroboratecertain data items with third parties, e.g., by checking contact orbanking information against a public address database or the specifiedbank, respectively. The provider may also check to see whether themerchant indicated acceptance of the participation agreement, ifapplicable. If any portion of the provided data fails to validate, themerchant may request that the merchant reenter the data, or mayterminate automated fulfillment services request processing and requestthat the merchant contact an agent for further assistance (block 304).

If the provided data is valid or the merchant 40 is determined to havealready registered, the provider may request identifying informationassociated with the item(s) 35 for which the merchant 40 is requestingfulfillment services (block 312). For example, interface 200 may displayanother web-based form through which the merchant may provideitem-identifying information. In some embodiments, item-identifyinginformation may be supplied along with the initial request forfulfillment services, and a separate request for this information maynot be made by the provider. Also, in some embodiments, a merchant 40may specify a quantity of the item 35 for which fulfillment services arerequested in addition to item identifying information.

The provider may then determine whether it has sufficient informationabout the item 35, as identified by the requesting merchant 40, toprocess the fulfillment services request for that item (block 314). Inone embodiment, the provider may make this determination by firstdetermining whether the item 35 is known to the provider (e.g., whetherthe provider has some record of information associated with the item35). For example, as noted previously, an item 35 may be identified by amerchant 40 in a different manner than by fulfillment center 10. In oneembodiment, the merchant may provide the merchant's own uniqueidentifier, such as a merchant-specified SKU identifier, as identifyinginformation for an item 35. In response, the provider may determinewhether there exists a mapping from the merchant's unique identifier toan identifier known to the provider, for example, by querying database210 using the merchant's identifier to determine whether a correspondingrecord includes the provider's identifier. In another embodiment, whensupplying identifying information for an item 35, the requestingmerchant 40 may provide an identifier known to the provider instead ofor in addition to a merchant-specified identifier.

If the provider has insufficient information to process the fulfillmentservices request for the identified item 35, the provider may solicitadditional information from the merchant (block 316). For example, ifthe provider could not locate a record for item 35 on the basis of amerchant-specific identifier such as a merchant's SKU, the provider maysolicit the requesting merchant 40 for a provider-specific identifier,or a generic identifier such as a Universal Product Code identifier, ifavailable. In some embodiments, the provider may provide item searchcapabilities via interface 200 in order to allow a requesting merchant40 to determine whether the item 35 for which fulfillment services havebeen requested is known to the provider. For example, the provider mayprovide a keyword search feature to allow the requesting merchant 40 toenter keywords relevant to an item 35. Alternatively, the provider mayallow the requesting merchant 40 to navigate a hierarchy of itemcategories to ascertain whether the item 35 identified by the merchant40 is included in the hierarchy, and in some embodiments, to determinethe most similar item in the hierarchy if the item 35 is not included.

In some circumstances, the provider may have no informationcorresponding to an item 35 for which fulfillment services have beenrequested. For example, the provider may never have provided fulfillmentservices for the item 35 before, either for the requesting merchant 40or any other merchant. In some embodiments, the provider may beconfigured to request the necessary information in this case. Forexample, the provider may request that the requesting merchant 40provide information such as item dimensions, weight, item type or classinformation (e.g., according to a taxonomy or hierarchy defined by theprovider), item special characteristics (e.g., whether the item isliquid, perishable, a hazardous material, requires special handling orstorage conditions, etc.) or any other information deemed necessary bythe provider to identify the item 35, to determine whether the item 35is eligible for fulfillment services, and/or to facilitate the provisionof fulfillment services.

Once the provider has sufficient information about the identified item35, the provider may determine whether the item 35 is eligible for therequested fulfillment services (block 318). For example, in oneembodiment, the provider may disallow fulfillment services for certaintypes of items 35, such as hazardous items. In another embodiment, amerchant 40 may be restricted from requesting fulfillment services forcertain items 35 according to its participation agreement or feestructure, current business relationship with the provider, the currentstate of the merchant's other inventory with respect to the provider, orany other suitable criterion. For example, a merchant 40 may contractwith a provider to receive fulfillment services for a certain quantityof an item 35 over a given period of time, such that fulfillmentrequests for additional quantities of that item 35 may be disallowed.

If the fulfillment services request cannot be processed owing toineligibility of the item 35, the provider may notify the requestingmerchant 40 via interface 200, and automated fulfillment servicesrequest processing may terminate (block 320). Otherwise, the providermay instruct the requesting merchant 40 to convey some specifiedquantity of item 35 to the provider, such as a quantity that may havebeen specified by the requesting merchant in or subsequent to therequest for fulfillment services (block 322).

In one embodiment, in instructing the merchant to convey item 35, theprovider may provide the requesting merchant 40 with data to be used bythe merchant to identify individual units of item 35. For example, theprovider may convey a document file to the merchant via interface 200,such as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file or another type ofdocument file, which includes alphanumeric, bar code or otherinformation indicative of identifying information that may be used tomanage units of the item 35 within fulfillment center 10. In variousembodiments, such identifying information may uniquely identify eachindividual unit of the item 35, may generically identify the units asbeing identical instances of the kind or type of item 35, or may combineinformation generic to the item 35 with information specific to aparticular unit of the item 35. For example, the provided identifyinginformation may include a serial number that is unique to a particularunit of an item 35, a UPC or similar product code that is generic to allunits of an item 35, or a code that identifies the product type of item35 as well as the condition of a particular unit (e.g., new, used,damaged, etc.). Any suitable type or combination of identifyinginformation may be employed. The provided document may be used togenerate labels to be respectively affixed to individual units of item35. For example, the requesting merchant 40 may, upon receiving thedocument, print its contents on label stock and affix the labels tounits of item 35 as appropriate.

The provider may also provide the requesting merchant 40 with data to beused by the merchant to convey item 35 to the provider. In oneembodiment, the provider may convey a document file, such as a PDFdocument or other type of document file, to the merchant via interface200 that includes data indicative of shipping information. For example,the document file may include address information, bar code data and/orother data that may be used to generate a shipping label. Such ashipping label may be a generic shipping label suitable for tendering apackage to any type of carrier. Alternatively, the shipping label datamay be tailored to a particular carrier, for example by including barcode, geographic code, or other routing or handling information specificto the particular carrier. In some embodiments, shipping informationdata may be included in the same document used to convey unitidentifying information as described above, while in other embodimentsshipping information data may be conveyed in a separate document. It isnoted that in various embodiments, the provider may conveyunit-identifying information, shipping information, both or neither tothe requesting merchant 40.

In some embodiments, shipping-related data provided to the requestingmerchant 40 may reflect the number of discrete shipments or packagesexpected from the requesting merchant 40. For example, the merchant mayindicate that the specified quantity of item 35 for which fulfillmentservices have been requested may be divided among a certain number ofpackages. Alternatively, the provider may instruct the requestingmerchant 40 to divide the specified quantity among shipments in aparticular way. In some embodiments, the shipping data provided to therequesting merchant 40 in the case of multiple shipments or packages ofa particular item 35 may uniquely identify each shipment or package, forexample by including bar code or other information to be included onshipping labels generated from the shipping data. It is contemplatedthat in some embodiments, the provider may instruct the requestingmerchant 40 to ship different quantities of item 35 to differentfulfillment centers 10, and shipping data conveyed to the requestingmerchant 40 may reflect this distribution. For example, the provider mayspecify the distribution according to available storage resources atvarious fulfillment centers 10. Alternatively, the provider or therequesting merchant 40 may wish to ensure a particular geographicaldistribution of item 35 among different fulfillment centers 10, forexample to satisfy expected patterns of demand.

In many cases, upon receiving instructions to convey the specifiedquantity of item 35 to the provider, the requesting merchant 40 mayappropriately package and ship item 35 to the provider according to thereceived instructions. For example, the requesting merchant 40 may printitem labels and affix them to units of item 35, pack the units in one ormore packages for shipment, print shipping labels and affix them to thepackage(s), and tender the package(s) to a shipper or carrier forshipment to the provider. However, the requesting merchant 40 need notbe in actual possession of item 35. In some embodiments, the requestingmerchant 40 may arrange with a third party, such as a manufacturer,distributor, vendor, or other type of supplier, to convey the specifiedquantity of item 35 to the provider. For example, the requestingmerchant 40 may forward item identifying and/or shipping information tothe third party, which may arrange to convey item 35 to the provider onbehalf of the requesting merchant 40.

Subsequent to instructing the requesting merchant 40 to convey thespecified quantity of item 35, the provider may receive item 35 (block324) and store item 35 into inventory (block 326). For example, one ormore packages including units of item 35 may arrive at fulfillmentcenter 10. In various embodiments, the package(s) may be scanned,unpacked, inspected, and/or otherwise processed, and units of item 35may be stored within storage facility 20. Inventory management system 30may also be appropriately updated to reflect the status of receivedunits of item 35, and in some embodiments the requesting merchant 40 maybe notified that item 35 is available for fulfillment.

In some embodiments, the provider may receive a notification of shipmentfrom the requesting merchant 40 before item 35 arrives. In some suchembodiments, either the provider or the requesting merchant 40 mayupdate an indication of availability of item 35 in response to such anotification. For example, the requesting merchant 40 may offer item 35in commerce via an e-commerce channel maintained by enterprise 5, suchas a web-based storefront or a marketplace. In response to anotification of shipment received from the requesting merchant 40,enterprise 5 may update an offering display or listing of item 35 toindicate an expected lead time or other indication of availability,taking into account factors such as expected time in transit from therequesting merchant 40 to the provider, processing time to receive andstore item 35 at the provider, and/or other factors affectingavailability of item 35.

It is noted that in some embodiments, a fulfillment services providersuch as fulfillment center 10 may operate to allow a merchant 40 torequest fulfillment services for an item 35, to conduct those actionsnecessary to validate the eligibility of the merchant and the item forthe requested services, and to convey to the merchant the data necessaryfor the merchant to prepare item 35 for the requested services andconvey item 35 to the provider. In particular, it is noted thatfulfillment center 10 may perform these tasks in an entirely automatedmanner, such that if the requesting merchant 40 and the item 35 satisfythe provider's eligibility requirements, the fulfillment servicesrequest may be processed without human intervention. For example, byinteracting with fulfillment center 10 via registration interface 200, amerchant 40 may complete a fulfillment services request for an item 35,ship item 35 to fulfillment center 10, and begin relaying customerorders for item 35 to fulfillment center 10 for fulfillment as detailedbelow, without depending on the actions of an agent of fulfillmentcenter 10 external to registration interface 200. Such an automatedfulfillment services request processing system may also be referred toas a “self-service” system, in that a merchant 40 may interact with thesystem entirely on its own initiative.

In one embodiment, in addition to providing a self-service registrationinterface 200 through which merchants 40 may request inventoryfulfillment services for various items 35, a fulfillment servicesprovider may provide a management interface through which merchants 40may manage various aspects of the fulfillment services applicable totheir items 35. FIG. 2B illustrates an embodiment of inventorymanagement system 30 similar to that of FIG. 2A, with the addition of amanagement interface 220 that may be configured to interact withdatabase 210 as well as merchant 40.

Management interface 220 may be configured to present an interfacethrough which a given merchant 40 may perform any of a variety offunctions, described below, with respect to items 35 for which the givenmerchant may have previously requested fulfillment services (e.g., viaregistration interface 200). Like registration interface 200, in oneembodiment management interface 220 may be configured to present to amerchant 40 one or more web pages accessible via the public Internet ora private intranet (e.g., a private network maintained by or on behalfof enterprise 5 requiring some level of authentication or securedconnection for access). Such a web page may include fillable forms,menus, executable applications (e.g., applications coded in Java™,Javascript or another language suitable for web-based execution) orother web-based interface elements. In other embodiments, managementinterface 220 may be configured to present a non-web-based managementinterface or a web services-based management interface to merchants 40,in a manner similar to that described above with respect to registrationinterface 200.

In some embodiments, it is contemplated that both registration interface200 and management interface 220 may be implemented as distinct orintegrated portions of a web-based fulfillment services portal. Forexample, functionality associated with both registration interface 200and management interface 220 may be implemented via respective web pagesor groups of web pages presented to merchants 40 as aspects of acentralized fulfillment services website. Alternatively, suchfunctionality may be presented through respective sets of web servicescalls presented to merchants 40 as a general web services API forregistration for and management of fulfillment services.

As described above, in one embodiment, after a merchant 40 hasregistered an item 35 for fulfillment services, the item 35 may beplaced under the physical custody and management of fulfillment center10. In such an embodiment, the supply chain for items 35 may be extendedto encompass items 35 in transit from the merchant 40 to fulfillmentcenter 10 and from fulfillment center 10 to customers 50 in addition tothe status of items 35 within fulfillment center 10. (In some cases, thegeneral supply chain for an item 35 may also account for the reversesupply chain reflecting the flow of returned units from customers 50and/or units removed from fulfillment center 10 and conveyed back to amerchant 40.) In some embodiments, management interface 220 may beconfigured to provide a given merchant 40 with visibility into thestatus of the general supply chain with respect to its registered items35. For example, management interface 220 may provide an indication ordisplay of the quantity of units of a given item 35 that are in transitbetween given merchant 40, fulfillment center 10 and/or customers 50 atany given time (e.g., including tracking information for units intransit, if available or applicable).

In one embodiment, management interface 220 may also provide anindication of the status of units of given item 35 held in inventorywithin fulfillment center 10, such as identifying units committed toorders but not yet picked or shipped, identifying units that are spoiledor damaged, or identifying any other relevant inventory statusinformation. In some embodiments, management interface 220 may provideto a merchant 40 explanatory information regarding problems orexceptions that arise in the supply chain for an item 35. For example,if units of an item 35 were damaged upon arrival at fulfillment center10 from merchant 40, or were otherwise in a state or condition differentfrom that expected from or indicated by merchant 40 when fulfillmentservices were requested for the units (e.g., used rather than newcondition), management interface 220 may be configured to display suchinformation to merchant 40 and allow the merchant 40 to specify anaction to resolve the problem. For example, management interface 220 mayallow the merchant 40 to instruct that damaged items be disposed of orreturned to the merchant 40, to allow the merchant 40 to arrange toconvey additional units to fulfillment center 10 (e.g., to coveroutstanding orders), or to take another suitable action. More generally,management interface 220 may allow merchant 40 to request, on its owninitiative, that units of an item 35 be withdrawn from inventory (e.g.,for return to merchant 40), repositioned among different fulfillmentcenters 10, or disposed of.

Generally speaking, management interface 220 may be configured toprovide any type of function suitable for monitoring or altering thestatus of a given item 35 within the extended supply chain encompassinga merchant 40, fulfillment center 10 and customers 50. In someembodiments, the supply chain and management interface functionality maybe extended to other third parties such as manufacturers, distributors,wholesalers, or other parties that may be involved in transactionspertaining to given item 35.

In other embodiments, management interface 220 may be configured toprovide functions that may not be directly related to supply chainmonitoring or management. In one embodiment, management interface 220may be configured to provide an interface through which a merchant 40may receive notice of customer service issues raised on behalf ofcustomers 50 and to participate in their resolution. For example,inventory management system 30 may be configured to receive reports ofcustomer service issues raised with respect to particular orders and toidentify the merchant(s) 40 associated with those orders (or specificitems 35 included in the orders). System 30 may then direct suchcustomer service reports associated with a given merchant 40 to aninbox, forum or other repository accessible by the given merchant 40 viamanagement interface 220. Alternatively, management interface 220 mayforward such reports directly to the given merchant 40, for example viaemail. In response to a given report, the given merchant 40 mayparticipate in resolving the issue via management interface 220, forexample by arranging for an item 35 to be returned or replaced,arranging for a refund or credit to be issued to a customer 50, orindicating another suitable action.

Order Fulfillment Process

As mentioned previously, a fulfillment services provider such asfulfillment center 10 of enterprise 5 may perform fulfillment servicesfor a variety of items 35 offered in commerce by a number of differentmerchants 40. A merchant 40 may request such services via a self-serviceregistration interface, as described above with respect to FIG. 3.

Once a merchant 40 has arranged to receive fulfillment services for anitem 35 from a provider, the provider may proceed to fulfill customerorders. In one embodiment, a customer may place an order for an item 35directly with a merchant 40 via a channel through which the merchant 40offers the item 35 in commerce (e.g., through e-commerce or other typesof channels as described above). In one such embodiment, customer ordersmay be conveyed to fulfillment center 10 from a merchant 40 viainventory management system 30, either via interface 200 or via adifferent interface configured for order processing. In otherembodiments, customer orders may be conveyed to fulfillment center 10through a third party. For example, a merchant 40 may present its ownorder-entry interface to customers 50 and assume responsibility forconveying the order to fulfillment center 10 for fulfillment.Alternatively, a merchant 40 may arrange for enterprise 5 to host acommerce channel including an order-entry interface on behalf of themerchant, such that the merchant 40 may not be directly involved inreceiving and processing the order, but may be fiscally and/or legallyresponsible for the order.

In some circumstances, a given customer 50 may place an order for two ormore different items 35 offered in commerce by different respectivemerchants 40. For example, the given customer 50 may place separateorders with each one of the merchants 40, ordering a first item 35 orgroup of items 35 from a first merchant 40, a second item 35 or group ofitems 35 from a second merchant 40, and so on, in any suitablecombination. Alternatively, the given customer 50 may place one or moreorders via an e-commerce channel that allows the given customer 50 toconcurrently view the offerings of more than one merchant 40. Forexample, the given customer 50 may use a virtual “shopping cart” intowhich items 35 offered by different merchants 40 can be placed for orderprocessing. Such a shopping cart may allow the given customer's itemselections for a particular order to persist across different e-commercechannels. For example, the contents of a customer's shopping cart maypersist as the customer browses from one merchant's web site or listingpage to a channel associated with another merchant 40. In someembodiments, a virtual shopping cart may simplify the customer'sordering experience, for example by allowing a customer 50 to submit onepayment transaction for all items 35 in the cart rather than submittingseparate payment transactions for each merchant 40 associated with thoseitems. A virtual shopping cart may also facilitate identification ofopportunities to consolidate items 35 ordered from multiple differentmerchants 40 by a given customer 50, as described in greater detailbelow.

In a conventional model of order fulfillment, items 35 ordered fromdifferent merchants 40 would be fulfilled separately, which may increaseoverall costs of fulfillment. For example, packaging and shipping agroup of items 35 separately may cost more than packaging and shippingthose items together. However, in some embodiments, a fulfillmentservices provider such as fulfillment center 10 may be configured toconsolidate items 35 ordered by a single customer 50 from multiplemerchants 40 such that at least some items 35 ordered from differentmerchants 40 are packaged and shipped as a single shipment, while eachmerchant 40 remains the merchant of record for its respective item 35.In shipping certain items 35 together, costs of fulfillment may bereduced and the resulting savings passed along to the customer 50 orretained as profit by merchants 40 and/or enterprise 5. At the sametime, each merchant 40 may remain the merchant of record for items 35 itoffers in commerce, retaining the fiscal, legal and/or other obligationsand benefits associated therewith. That is, although the fulfillmentservices provider may have physical custody of items 35 for which itprovides fulfillment services on behalf of merchants 40, the providermay simply function as an intermediary, rather than a principal, intransactions between merchants 40 and customers 50. In variousembodiments, the role of the provider in fulfilling an order may or maynot be visible to a customer 50.

One embodiment of a method of fulfilling orders for items 35 on behalfof a number of different merchants 40 is illustrated in FIG. 4.Referring collectively to FIGS. 1-4, operation begins in block 400 wherea fulfillment services provider such as fulfillment center 10 receivesone or more orders placed by a customer 50 for at least two differentitems 35 offered in commerce by different respective merchants 40. Insome embodiments, one or more of the merchants 40 may have requestedfulfillment services for its corresponding ordered item 35 via aself-services fulfillment services interface, such as interface 200, asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 3. As described previously, theorder(s) may be received from merchants 40, directly from the customer50, or via a third party. In embodiments where a virtual shopping cartis employed, the relationship among the different items 35, thedifferent merchants 40 and the ordering customer 50 may be explicit orimplicit in the data records generated as a result of processing thevirtual shopping cart contents. For example, the virtual shopping cartmay assign a common order identifier to each item 35 that forms acomponent of the customer's order, which may facilitate the provider'scombining of items 35 into shipments as described below.

In some embodiments, if multiple distinct orders are received from asingle customer 50, either from the same or different merchants 40, theorders may be linked by the provider, for example on the basis of acommon customer identifier or a common order identifier that may becoordinated among merchants 40 and the provider. Once identified aslinked or related, the multiple orders may be processed as a singleorder for the fulfillment processes described below, to the extentpossible. In some such embodiments, the provider may only link ordersthat are placed or received within a given interval of time, such asorders placed within one hour, one day, etc. The interval may depend onthe mode of delivery specified by the customer. For example, if acustomer 50 requests expedited shipping for a given order, the intervalof time for linking the given order to other orders may be relativelyshort to prevent delay in shipping the given order.

Subsequent to receiving the order(s), the specified items 35 may beretrieved from storage (block 402). For example, in one embodiment,customer orders may be processed by inventory management system 30 togenerate instructions for a human or mechanical picker to select thespecified items 35 from within inventory storage facility 20. It iscontemplated that in some embodiments, the specified items 35 may beretrieved along with other items 35 destined for unrelated orders. Forexample, system 30 may divide a number of orders up among multiplepickers in order to optimize picker efficiency, particularly ininstances where the items 35 specified in a given order are widelydistributed throughout fulfillment center 10.

At least two of the retrieved items 35 corresponding to two differentmerchants 40 may then be packaged (block 404). For example, theretrieved items 35 may be delivered to a packaging area withinfulfillment center 10 to be appropriately packaged for shipment, whichmay include selection of appropriate boxes or other enclosures,insertion of protective packing materials, and/or inclusion of a packingslip, invoice, manifest, promotional materials or other materials. Insome embodiments, if all items 35 corresponding to the customer'sorder(s) are present in the fulfillment center 10, they may be packagedas a single package for shipment, or divided among multiple packages ifcost, item characteristics or shipper requirements dictate. In somecases, fulfillment of ordered items 35 may be distributed acrossdifferent fulfillment centers 10, for example depending on itemavailability.

Subsequently, a package including at least two items 35 corresponding totwo different merchants 40 may be shipped to the customer 50 (block406). For example, the package or packages may be tendered to a commoncarrier for shipping.

One embodiment of a packing slip that may be included in a packagefulfilled according to the method of FIG. 4 is shown in FIG. 5. In theillustrated embodiment, packing slip 500 indicates that four items 35are included within a shipment to the identified customer. Items A and Bare indicated as having been offered by Merchant A. Item C is indicatedas having been offered by Merchant B. Item D is indicated as having beenoffered by Merchant C. Thus, Merchants A-C are indicated as themerchants of record for their corresponding items A-D, yet theidentified customer may receive items A-D as a single shipment. Othersituations involving different numbers of items and merchants arepossible and contemplated. It is noted that various embodiments, packingslip 500 may correspond to a customer invoice, billing document, bill oflading, or other document formatted to summarize order information.

It is further noted that in some embodiments, packing slip 500 mayinclude multiple pages or components formatted in a variety of ways. Forexample, items 35 corresponding to different merchants of record may beindicated on different pages or sections of packing slip 500. In somecases, packing slip 500 may also include information or data in additionto information identifying merchants of record. For example, suchinformation may include terms and conditions that may apply to a givenitem 35 or a transaction involving given item 35 with respect to themerchant of record, warranty information, customer service information(e.g., contact information for complaints, returns, exchanges, etc.),marketing or promotional information (e.g., offers of future discounts,coupons, etc.), or other types of information. In some embodiments, theinformation included by packing slip 500 may be customized or formattedto suit requirements or customs pertinent to the location of a customer.For example, different documentation requirements may apply totransactions involving customers located in different legaljurisdictions (e.g., states, countries, etc.). Packing slip 500 may beappropriately formatted to take such requirements or other factors intoaccount.

Consolidation of items 35 ordered from multiple merchants into fewershipments may result in lower fulfillment costs, as noted above. Forexample, by virtue of volume, fulfillment center 10 may havepreferential access to discounted shipping rates relative to thoseavailable to individual merchants 40. Thus, by allowing its items 35 tobe combined for shipment with items 35 from another merchant 40, a givenmerchant 40 may enjoy lower costs of shipping and packaging. Moreover,customer goodwill may be increased through more a timely and/orconvenient shopping experience. For example, a customer's order may becompleted more quickly through fulfillment from fulfillment center 10than if each merchant 40 involved in the order fulfilled its portionseparately. Moreover, in addition to the possibility of reduced shippingcosts to the customer 50, fewer shipments may reduce customerinconvenience in taking delivery of items 35, for example if thecustomer or the customer's agent must be present at the time ofdelivery.

It is noted that while order consolidation as described above may besufficient to reduce fulfillment costs, such consolidation may not benecessary to do so. In some circumstances, the cost of fulfilling asingle item 35 through fulfillment center 10 may be lower than if amerchant 40 were to perform its own fulfillment. For example,fulfillment center 10 may benefit from greater economies of scale,better infrastructure for inventory and supply chain management, orother advantages that result in reduced fulfillment costs relative to amerchant 40 performing its own fulfillment on a smaller scale.

In some instances, a merchant's registration of a given item 35 forfulfillment services via registration interface 200 may render that item35 eligible for various services or promotional opportunities availableto items 35 fulfilled by fulfillment center 10, such as a reduced-costor expedited shipping promotion in which the customer may receive freestandard shipping, free expedited shipping, reduced-cost standard orexpedited shipping, etc. Other promotional opportunities may includediscounts against a current order, credits against future orders,loyalty program points, discounts or credits with partner merchants, orother types of promotions. Such eligibility may apply even to instancesin which a customer 50 orders a single unit of the given item 35 withoutcombining the given item 35 with other items 35 in the order. Forexample, in one embodiment the eligibility for a promotional shippingarrangement or other promotional opportunity of items 35 fulfilled byfulfillment center 10 may depend on the total price of a customer'sorder. In such an embodiment, if the given item 35 has a pricesufficient to meet the eligibility criterion, the customer 50 mayreceive promotional consideration upon ordering a single unit of thegiven item 35, alone or in combination with other items 35 fulfilled byfulfillment center 10.

In some embodiments, the cost savings resulting from a merchant'sself-service registration for fulfillment services as described aboveand/or the cost savings resulting from efficiencies of fulfillmentcenter 10 may be used to fund promotional opportunities offered tocustomers, such as opportunities to receive reduced-cost or expeditedshipping, item discounts, or other types of promotions. In other cases,such cost savings may be offered to merchants 40 as a discount or creditagainst charges for fulfillment services, as profit sharing orcooperative marketing funding, or in another suitable fashion. Suchsavings may also be retained by enterprise 5 or distributed amongenterprise 5, merchants 40 and/or customers 50 in any combination of theforegoing ways.

As described previously, various aspects of the methods and techniquesdescribed above (e.g., various aspects of registration interface 200and/or management interface 220) may be presented to merchants 40 orcustomers 50 through the use of web pages. Generally speaking, a webpage may include data content as well as metadata content that may beconfigured to control the presentation of the data content. For example,a web page may include text, still images, video content, navigablelinks, or other types of data content, as well as metadata orinstructions that may control the placement, appearance, interactivebehavior, or other presentation aspects of the data content.

Often, the data and metadata contents of a web page may be coded in alanguage, such as a version of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) or anyother suitable language for web-based content implementation. Web pagecontents may be conveyed from a content source, such as a web hostimplemented by or on behalf of fulfillment center 10 or enterprise 5, toa client, such as a merchant 40 or a customer 50, over a network (e.g.,the Internet or a private network) using a suitable transport protocolsuch as a version of Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), for example.The contents may then be interpreted or processed, as indicated by thecoding language and metadata content, by a suitable client applicationsuch as a web browser. Some exemplary types of web browsers include, butare not limited to, Microsoft Internet Explorer™, Mozilla Firefox, andOpera™. In addition to presenting the web page to a client, the webbrowser may also collect and process input data from the client. Forexample, the browser may detect the selection or activation of navigablelinks, menu items, buttons, or other types of input devices that may bepresented to a client, and may operate in response to such selection oractivation by conveying data back to the content source or anotherentity or system, navigating to a different content source, orperforming another suitable action.

One embodiment of a generic web page is illustrated in FIG. 6. In theillustrated embodiment, a browser window 600 is shown to include webpage 610. Among the various types of content included in web page 610are text content 620, image content 630, input features 640 andnavigable links 650, although in other embodiments web page 610 mayinclude more or fewer types of content in various combinations,including types not specifically enumerated above. Although the variouscontent types are illustrated as segregated features, they may beinterspersed or combined in any suitable fashion according to thecapabilities of the browser and language used to implement web page 610.In one embodiment, browser window 600 may be generated and managed by aweb browser such as those mentioned above.

In one embodiment, the content and placement of various content featuresof web page 610 may be generated, for example by or on behalf ofinterface 200, to implement a web page through which a merchant 40 mayinvoke the self-service fulfillment services registration processdescribed above with respect to FIG. 3. For example, text content 620,image content 630 and input features 640 may be configured to present afulfillment service provider's request for input data to a merchant 40and to provide a technique for allowing merchant 40 to enter and conveysuch data in response, such as through presenting a form with fields inwhich data may be inserted by the merchant 40.

In another embodiment, web page 610 may be configured to implement ane-commerce channel suitable for presenting offers in commerce of items35 to customers 50, as well as other data potentially of interest tocustomers 50. For example, a merchant 40 may operate its own e-commercehosting facilities, generating its own content and conveying it tocustomers 50 via web pages 610. Alternatively, a merchant 40 may arrangewith another party, such as enterprise 5, to present such web pages 610on its behalf. In another embodiment, enterprise 5 or another party mayimplement an e-commerce marketplace such as described above via one ormore web pages 610. For example, a number of offers from variousmerchants 40 for a particular item 35, or for multiple items 35, may bedisplayed to a customer 50 via web page 610.

Inventory Fulfillment Services for Customers

The above describes embodiments of a computer-implemented system andmethod whereby a fulfillment services provider may perform inventoryfulfillment services for a variety of items offered in commerce by anumber of different merchants. A merchant may request such services viaa self-service registration interface, as described above with respectto FIGS. 2A and 2B and FIG. 3. Generally, the above-describedembodiments are applicable to merchants that have quantities of likeitems that they wish to sell via the fulfillment services provider andthe provided inventory. However, individuals, small merchants such asresale shops, or other entities may have single units of items or smallquantities of possibly heterogeneous items, possibly but not necessarilyused items, which they wish to sell via the inventory fulfillmentservices provided by a fulfillment services provider.

The following describes embodiments of a method and apparatus wherebyinventory fulfillment services may be provided by a fulfillment servicesprovider to customers who may be individuals or merchants, and who havesingle units of items or small quantities of possibly heterogeneousitems, that they wish to sell via the inventory fulfillment services ofthe fulfillment services provider. In embodiments, the general processfor listing items for sale via a self-service fulfillment servicesregistration interface provided by an inventory management system of thefulfillment services provider may be simplified or streamlined, andadditional services may be provided to the customer via the self-serviceregistration interface that may reduce the effort required of thecustomer to take advantage of the inventory fulfillment services offeredby the fulfillment services provider. In one embodiment, a fulfillmentservices provider, via a fulfillment services registration interface toan inventory management system, may automatically generate shippinginformation for one or more items specified by a listing customer. Theshipping information may include a shipping list, or packing slip, thatlists one or more possibly heterogeneous items specified by the listingcustomer to be sent to the fulfillment services provider, carried ininventory of the fulfillment services provider, offered for sale, andsold to purchasing customer(s) on behalf of the listing customer. Theshipping information may also include one or more package labels thatspecify at least the ship from and ship to addresses for the shipment.

In one embodiment, the listing customer is the seller of record for allitems listed with the fulfillment services provider. Thus, for tax orother purposes, the fulfillment services provider is not the seller ofrecord. In one embodiment, any fees or charges to the listing customermay be backloaded. In other words, the listing customer may not becharged for any fees related to a particular item until the item issold. In one embodiment, any inventory fulfillment services fees relatedto a particular item may be assessed to the listing customer bydeducting the fees from the sale price of the item when (and if) sold.Thus, the listing customer's profit for sale of a particular item may bethe sale price minus any inventory fulfillment services fees for thatparticular item. Thus, the listing customer may not pay any fees forlisting items with the fulfillment services provider until the listeditems are sold. In one embodiment, after a specified period, unsolditems may be disposed of via one or more methods, and the fulfillmentservices provider may assess appropriate fees for the disposal of unsolditems. Alternatively, the fulfillment services provider may beginassessing appropriate inventory fulfillment services fees, for exampleinventory storage fees, to the listing customer for unsold items afterthe specified period.

In one embodiment, a listing period may be specified, for example 90days, for which items listed by a listing customer with the fulfillmentservices provider will be carried. If an item does not sell within thelisting period, one of one or more disposal methods may be used todispose of the item. In one embodiment, if an item does not sell withinthe listing period, one or more options for disposal of the item may beprovided to the listing customer, for example via email notificationprior to or after the item's listing period expires. In one embodiment,the listing customer may be allowed to select from two or more disposaloptions. In one embodiment, the item may be returned to the listingcustomer. In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider mayassess one or more fees to the listing customer for returned items. Inone embodiment, for any item that has not sold by the end of the listingperiod, the fulfillment services provider may continue to carry theitem, but may begin charging stocking and possibly other applicableinventory fulfillment services fees to the listing customer. In oneembodiment, the fulfillment services provider may reduce the sale priceof an item that has not sold within the listing period. In oneembodiment, the fulfillment services provider may, after the listingperiod for an item expires without the item being sold, reduce the saleprice of the item by some amount (e.g., 10%), and then reduce the priceagain after a period (e.g., two days, or a week) if the item does notsell at that price, and may continue periodically or aperiodicallyreducing the price until the item sells or, if the item does not sell,otherwise disposing of the item. In one embodiment, for any item thathas not sold by the end of the listing period, the fulfillment servicesprovider may liquidate the item, for example by selling the item to awholesaler or some other entity at a wholesale price, or alternativelyby purchasing the item from the listing customer at a liquidation pricethat is lower than the listing customer's sale price. In one embodiment,item that has not sold by the end of the listing period may be donatedto a charity or other not-for-profit organization. Other disposalmethods are possible. In one embodiment, an item that has not soldduring the listing period may be recycled or otherwise disposed of. Ifan item does not sell within the specified period, the listing customermay be charged an appropriate amount to cover whatever disposal methodis used for the item.

The term listing customer may be used herein to describe a customer ofthe fulfillment services provider that uses embodiments to list itemsfor sale via the fulfillment services provider. A listing customer may,for example, be an individual person with a collection of one or moreheterogeneous used items at home that they wish to sell, or a smallmerchant that wish to sell units or small quantities of items but do notrequire all of the functionality described above, or in general anyentity with a collection of one or more possibly heterogeneous itemsthat the entity desires to sell via the fulfillment services provider.The term purchasing customer may be used herein to describe a customerof the fulfillment services provider that purchases items, possiblyincluding items listed by a listing customer, from the fulfillmentservices provider.

A listing customer may have a collection of one or more items to besold. The listing customer may generate a list of the items via thefulfillment services registration interface. Shipping information may begenerated and provided to the listing customer, and the collection ofitems may be shipped as one shipment to and listed for sale by thefulfillment services provider. Two or more of the items in a listingcustomer's collection of items may be units of the same item, forexample two or more copies of a book or a CD. A listing customer'scollection of items may include two or more heterogeneous items.Heterogeneous, as used herein in relation to two or more items that maybe listed by a listing customer, includes the notion of two or moredifferent items in a category of item (e.g., two different books, threedifferent CDs, etc.) and the notion of two or more items in differentcategories (e.g., books, CDs, DVDs, personal electronic devices, videogames, appliances, etc.). Heterogeneous items may also include two ormore similar but not identical items (e.g., two copies of a book withdifferent covers, an earlier and later edition of the same book, twodifferent versions of a CD, two electronic devices from differentgenerations of the device, etc.) or even two or more units of the sameitem in different conditions (e.g., a used book in poor condition and acopy of the same version of the book in like-new condition, severalcopies of a CD in varying conditions, etc.)

In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider may determinewhether a listing customer's request to receive inventory fulfillmentservices for one or more items satisfies one or more listing rules ofthe fulfillment services provider. In one embodiment, to determine thatthe listing customer's request satisfies a particular one of the one ormore listing rules with respect to a given item, the fulfillmentservices provider may determine that a sales price specified by thecustomer for the given item is within a suggested price range, whichmay, for example, be determined from an evaluation of historical salesdata. In one embodiment, to determine that the listing customer'srequest satisfies a particular one of the one or more listing rules withrespect to a given item, the fulfillment services provider may estimatethe listing customer's expected profit for the given item if the givenitem sells. In one embodiment, the expected profit may be determined asthe customer-specified sale price for the item minus any expectedinventory fulfillment services transaction costs or fees for the givenitem. In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider may reject arequest to receive inventory fulfillment services for the given item ifthe determined profit for the given item if sold is less than aspecified threshold. The specified threshold may be, but is notnecessarily, zero. In one embodiment, the listing customer may beprovided with the opportunity to adjust the sale price of the itemupwards, if desired, or to list a given item even though the expectedprofit is zero or negative, if desired.

In other embodiments, to determine that the listing customer's requestsatisfies a particular one of the one or more listing rules with respectto a given item, the fulfillment services provider may filter the givenitems according to one or more other listing rules. For example, thefulfillment services provider may choose not to accept out-of-dateitems, items with poor sales history, and/or certain categories or typesof items, certain titles of various media products. In general, thelisting rules may be used to filter items that the fulfillment servicesprovider will not accept according to any set of criteria that thefulfillment services provider requires or desires.

FIG. 7 illustrates a fulfillment services provider and inventorymanagement system that provides, via a fulfillment services registrationinterface, inventory fulfillment services to customers who have singleunits of items or small quantities of possibly heterogeneous items thatthey wish to list with the fulfillment services provider, according toone embodiment. In one embodiment, a listing customer 720 may access afulfillment services registration interface 704 to inventory managementsystem 702, for example using a web browser on listing customer system722. The listing customer 720 may be required to register for an accountwith the fulfillment services provider 700 before accessing thefulfillment services registration interface 704, and thus may have aunique customer account identifier and password provided to the listingcustomer 720 upon registration with the fulfillment services provider700.

The listing customer may, via the fulfillment services registrationinterface 704, provide an item description (e.g., an ISBN of a book, aUPC, or some other identifier, a title or keyword, etc.) for each of oneor more items 724. In one embodiment, a search function may be provided,via the fulfillment services registration interface 704, that enablesthe listing customer 720 to search for items 724 in particularcategories according to keyword or identifier and that allows thelisting customer 720 to select, from a list of one or more items foundvia the search in a catalog of the fulfillment services provider 700, aparticular item description that best matches an item 724 that thelisting customer 720 wishes to list for sale. A catalog of itemdescriptions may be maintained by the inventory management system 702 indatabase 706. Note that database 706 may include, but is not limited to,one or more databases, data stores, collections of files of varioustypes, one or more catalogs of item descriptions, pricing information,listing or other rules, tables and lists, web pages and associated webpage data, information, and graphics, textual and/or graphical files fordisplay via various interfaces, historical information such ashistorical sales information, or any other data and information that maybe maintained and used by inventory management system 702. In otherwords, database 706 may include and therefore is representative of anyand all data and information that may be used by inventory managementsystem 702 as described herein.

In one embodiment, in response to the listing customer 720 providing orselecting an item description for a particular item 724, the inventorymanagement system 702, via the fulfillment services registrationinterface 704, may provide a recommended price or price range at orwithin which the particular item 724 may likely be sold within areasonable period (which may or may not be as long as the listingperiod, e.g. 90 days) in accordance with historical sales informationfor the particular item 724 and/or for similar items to the particularitem 724 gathered and maintained by the fulfillment services provider700. In one embodiment, the listing customer 720 may, via thefulfillment services registration interface 704, specify a price atwhich the customer 720 is willing to sell the item 724, and may receiveguidance via the fulfillment services registration interface 704regarding the likelihood of sale of the item 724 at a particular saleprice, which may be determined from the historical sales informationmaintained by the fulfillment services provider 700. Once the listingcustomer 720 has provided or selected a sale price for a particular item724, in one embodiment, the inventory management system 702, via thefulfillment services registration interface 704, may provide to thelisting customer 720 an expected profit if that particular item 724sells at that price. The expected profit is the sale price minus anycharges or fees assessed to the listing customer 720 by the fulfillmentservices provider 700 for providing the listing and inventoryfulfillment services as described herein.

In various embodiments, one or more fees or charges, or combinationsthereof, may be assessed to the listing customer 720 by the fulfillmentservices provider 700 for providing the listing and inventoryfulfillment services as described herein. As noted, these fees andcharges may be backloaded, and thus not charged directly to the listingcustomer 720, being assessed when item(s) 724 listed by the customer 720are sold, or after the listing period (e.g., 90 days) for the item(s)724 expires. For example, the fulfillment services provider 700 maycharge one or more fees for selling an item 724 listed via thefulfillment services registration interface 704. As an example, for amedia item (e.g., a book, CD, DVD, tape, computer or video game, etc.),the fulfillment services provider 700 may charge a commission on theprice of an item. For example, the fulfillment services provider 700 maycharge a listing customer 10% of the gross selling price a book ascommission for selling the book. Different percentages may be charged ascommission for different types, categories, and/or price ranges of items724.

In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider 700 may charge aflat fee for at least some categories of items, for example for mediaitems, which allows the fulfillment services provider 700 to at leastcollect some reasonable amount for items 724 in spite of the possiblylow sale price of the items. Listing customers 720 may price items verylow, but via the flat fee the fulfillment services provider 700 willstill receive a set amount for each sale. In one embodiment, thefulfillment services provider 700 may assess a transaction fee for eachitem, for example $0.99 for each sold item. In one embodiment, thefulfillment services provider 700 may assess order fulfillment fees. Forexample, for something that sells under $25.00 and weighs less than apound, the listing customer 720 may be charged approximately $0.90.

The handling of charges that may be assessed for shipping packages 726containing items 724 from listing customer 720 to the fulfillmentservices provider 700 are described below.

A listing customer 720 may thus lose money for sales of items that arepriced below a certain point, as one or more of the above fees may bededucted from the sale price at the time of sale, and thus the saleprice needs to be at least high enough to cover all applicable fees forthe customer 720 to break even, and higher still for the customer 720 torealize a profit. Thus, one embodiment may provide one or more filtersthat may alert the customer 720 on items 724 for which the customer 720may or will lose money at the specified sale price. In one embodiment,the fulfillment services provider 700 may refuse to accept any items 724that the listing customer 720 attempts to list at such a low price thatthe customer 720 will lose money or break even at best. In oneembodiment, the fulfillment services provider 700 may specify a profitthreshold below which either the customer will be alerted or thefulfillment services provider 700 will refuse to accept the listing ofthe item 724. The profit threshold may be, but is not necessarily, setto $0.00. The fulfillment services provider 700 may, for example, chooseto set the threshold higher than $0.00.

The listing customer 720 may, based on the pricing information providedvia the fulfillment services registration interface 704 select whetherthey want to ship the item 724 to the fulfillment services provider 700and list the item 724 for sale via a sales listing service, for examplevia a sales listing services interface 708 to the inventory managementsystem 702 provided by the fulfillment services provider 700, or viaanother entity (e.g., an electronic commerce channel) whereby purchasingcustomers may browse for and select various items carried in inventoryby the fulfillment services provider 700 for purchase. For example, ifthe expected profit is low or negative, the listing customer 720 maydecide not to list the item, or alternatively may choose to raise theprice. In one embodiment, the inventory management system 702 may beconfigured to refuse to accept a listing of an item 724 from a listingcustomer 720 if the expected profit for sale of the item 724 is below aspecified threshold. For example, the threshold may be, but is notnecessarily, specified as zero, indicating that the customer would makeno money from sale of the item.

In one embodiment, the inventory management system 702 may includelisting rules, data, and logic that may be used to filter the items 724for which an item description is provided by a listing customer 720 sothat particular items 724 that the fulfillment services provider 700specifies are not to be accepted from listing customers 720 may berejected. For example, the fulfillment services provider 700 may notwish to carry books or other items that rarely sell, out-of-date itemssuch as older versions of textbooks, and/or older-generation personalelectronic devices that are unlikely to sell, and so on. Other reasonsfor rejecting particular items may be specified by the fulfillmentservices provider 700. For example, fulfillment services provider 700may reject any items not listed in its catalog. In one embodiment, theinventory management system 702 may include one or more editable listsor tables in which the fulfillment services provider 700 may add orremove identifiers, titles, descriptions, and so on of items that thefulfillment services provider 700 will not accept. The listing rules andlogic may be applied to these lists or tables and thus may be used toreject the listing of particular items specified in the lists or tables.If a customer enters a title, identifier, etc. for an item that thelisting rules and logic determine the fulfillment services provider 700will not accept, the listing customer 720 may be informed, via thefulfillment services registration interface 704, that the item will notbe accepted. As another example, fulfillment services provider 700 may,via listing rules, reject or refuse to accept listings for items thatare or are suspected to be pirated or otherwise illegal our unauthorizedcopies of items, for example pirated CDs or DVDs. As another example,fulfillment services provider 700 may, via the listing rules, refuse toaccept at least some items not in their original carton or container,for example CDs or DVDs not in the original jewel case or container. Asanother example, some states or other municipalities may have or mayenact laws or statutes, for example intrastate or interstate transportand sale restrictions, that control or restrict the sale of certainitems, and the fulfillment services provider 700 may thus includelisting rules to conform to legal restrictions.

In one embodiment, the inventory management system 702 of fulfillmentservices provider 700 may, via the fulfillment services registrationinterface 704, provide a method and interface for a listing customer 720to add to the catalog of the fulfillment services provider 700 one ormore item descriptions for items that are not currently listed in thecatalog. Using this method and interface, the fulfillment servicesprovider 700 may accept listings for items that the fulfillment servicesprovider 700 does not typically carry, and/or listings for items thatare not in the catalog. This method and interface may allow a listingcustomer 720 to create “custom” items, for example batches or sets oftwo or more items that the listing customer 720 preferably wants to selltogether as one item 724.

The above process may be completed by the listing customer 720 for anynumber of items 724 via the fulfillment services registration interface704. Once all the items 724 have been processed, the listing customer720 may complete the listing via the fulfillment services registrationinterface 704. The inventory management system 702 may thenautomatically generate shipping information 710 for the listing customer720. The shipping information 710 may include a shipping list, orpacking slip, that lists one or more possibly heterogeneous items 724specified by the listing customer 720 to be sent to the fulfillmentservices provider 720, carried in inventory of the fulfillment servicesprovider (e.g., in materials handling facility 712), offered for sale,and sold to purchasing customer(s) 730 on behalf of the listing customer720. The shipping information 710 may also include one or more packagelabels that specify at least a ship from address (the address from whichthe listing customer 720 will ship a package 726 containing the item(s)724) and a ship to address (the address of the facility to which thepackage 726 is to be shipped). The ship from address may beautomatically pulled from account information of the listing customer720, or alternatively the listing customer 720 may be allowed, via thefulfillment services registration interface 704, to select from amongtwo or more ship from addresses and/or to enter a different ship fromaddress.

The inventory management system 702 may provide the shipping information710 to the listing customer 720 via the fulfillment servicesregistration interface 704. The shipping information 710 may, forexample, be electronically transmitted to the listing customer 720 inprintable form. For example, the shipping information 710 may beprovided to the listing customer 720 on a printable web page, via anemail message as message text or as an attachment, or via some otherelectronic communications channel. Alternatively, shipping information710 may be mailed to the listing customer 720. In one embodiment, eitherone or both of the packing slip and package label may include scannableor otherwise readable information that may be used by the carrier ordelivery service and/or by the fulfillment services provider 700 uponreceiving the package. In one embodiment, shipping information 710provided to listing customer 720 may also include information on one ormore carriers or delivery services, for example street addresses,drop-off locations, phone numbers, and/or schedules, that are availablenear the listing customer 720's address to deliver shipments to the shipto address specified by the fulfillment services provider 700.

The packing slip and each item 724 may then be placed by the listingcustomer 720 into a package 726, the packing label may be applied to theoutside of the package 726, and the package 726 may be shipped to afacility of the fulfillment services provider 700 as specified by thepackage label, such as materials handling facility 712, which may, forexample, be an order fulfillment center. Package 726 may be any of avariety of shapes, sizes, and configurations of boxes, envelopes, orother types of containers appropriate for packing and shipping theitem(s) 724 of the listing customer 720 to the fulfillment servicesprovider.

In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider 700 may, via thefulfillment services registration interface 704, provide an optionwhereby the listing customer may select to have a packing container orbox, or alternatively a packing kit containing a box, tape, and possiblyother packing accessories, provided to the customer by the fulfillmentservices provider 700 for shipping a specified list of one or more items724 to the fulfillment services provider 700. The fulfillment servicesprovider 700 may, for example, in response to the listing customerselecting the option to have a packing kit sent to the customer, mail orotherwise ship a packing kit to the customer.

The items 724 listed by the listing customer 720 may be entered into andtracked by inventory management system 720 as a pending incomingshipment from the listing customer 720. The shipment may be tracked bythe scannable or otherwise readable information printed on the packagelabel(s).

Any of a variety of carriers or delivery services may be used to shippackage 726 to a facility of the fulfillment services provider 700 asspecified by the package label as long as package 726 meets the shippingcriteria (e.g., weight limit, size limit, content restrictions, etc.) ofthe carrier or delivery service and the carrier or delivery serviceprovides delivery from the shipping address to the destination addressspecified on the packing label of the package 726. For example, thepostal service or a package delivery service such as UPS may be used toship package 726 if package 726 meets the criteria for allowablepackages. The listing customer 720 may deliver the package to a facilityof the carrier or delivery service, may have the package 726 picked upand delivered to a facility of the carrier or delivery service, e.g. bya courier service, or alternatively the carrier or delivery service maypick the package 726 up from the listing customer 720. In oneembodiment, the inventory management system 702 may be configured toautomatically notify the carrier or delivery service that the listingcustomer 720 has a package 726 to be picked up, and may also notify thelisting customer 720 of a pickup time at which the carrier or deliveryservice is going to pick up the package 726.

In one embodiment, the packing label may be specific to a particularcarrier or delivery service; for example, the packing label may be apostal service label, or a UPS label. In one embodiment, shipping costsmay be prepaid, and the packing label may thus indicate that theshipping costs are prepaid. Alternatively, the listing customer 720 maypay shipping costs at the time of pickup by or delivery to the carrieror delivery service. If shipping costs are prepaid, the listing customer720 may be charged by the fulfillment services provider 700 up front forshipping, or alternatively the shipping charges may be backloaded andthus not charged to the customer 720 until the item(s) 724 are sold orotherwise disposed of if the listing period (e.g., 90 days) for theitem(s) 724 expires. In one embodiment, if there are two or more items,the shipping charges may be spread across the items 724, and thus aportion of the shipping charges may be deducted from the proceeds ofselling each of the items 724 if sold. If some items 724 sell but one ormore do not sell and are thus otherwise disposed of, any remainingshipping charges may be applied to the listing customer 720 along withany other fees for disposal of the item(s).

While the above describes packing, labeling, and shipping all items 726in a single package 726, a listing by a listing customer 720 thatincludes two or more items 724 may require two or more packages 726. Inone embodiment, during the listing process, the listing customer 720 mayspecify, or alternatively the inventory management system 702 maydetermine, the number of packages 726 required. In this embodiment, theinventory management system 702 may provide to the listing customer 720enough packing labels to label all packages 726.

The package(s) 726 including the items 724 listed by the customer may bedelivered by the carrier or delivery service to a facility of thefulfillment services provider 700 as specified by a ship to address onthe package label, for example to the exemplary materials handlingfacility 712 shown in FIG. 7. Inventory management system 702 mayinclude interfaces to the facility (e.g., to materials handling facility712) for directing operators in the facility in receiving incomingshipments and stocking received items to inventory storage in thefacility, and for directing operators in picking, processing packing andshipping items to fulfill requests (e.g., purchase orders) received frompurchasing customers 730, for example via sales listing servicesinterface 708. As noted above, the items 724 listed by the listingcustomer 720 may be entered into and tracked by inventory managementsystem 720 as a pending incoming shipment from the listing customer 720.The shipment may be tracked by the scannable or otherwise readableinformation printed on the package label(s). Once the package 726arrives at a receiving operation of the facility 712, the package labelon the package may be scanned, which identifies to the inventorymanagement system 702 that the shipment from the listing customer 720has arrived.

In one embodiment, at the facility, the package 726 may be opened, andthe packing slip may be removed. The packing slip may include scannableor otherwise readable information about the shipment. For example, thepacking slip may include a bar code that may be scanned to obtaininformation about the shipment. Alternatively, or in addition, thepacking slip may include a list of items and quantities of itemsincluded in the shipment. An operator may scan or otherwise read theinformation from the packing slip. The scanned or read information maybe communicated to inventory management system 702, which may verifythat the package 726 includes all of the items 724 listed by thecustomer 720. In one embodiment, the operator may be instructed to printand apply materials handling facility item labels over existing barcodesor other marks on the received items 724, or alternatively the inventorymanagement system 702 may automatically print the item labels forapplication by the operator. In one embodiment, since the items 724 arenot regular inventory items but are instead items received for handlingby the inventory fulfillment services, the shipment of items 724 may bereceived under a special purchase order type.

Optionally, the operator may inspect the items 724 contained in thepackage to ensure the quality of the items 724 is as specified, and alsoto inspect for any damage that may have occurred during shipping. In oneembodiment, some types of items 724, such as CDs and DVDs, may beinspected to insure that the items are not pirated or otherwise illegalcopies of items, and/or inspected to insure that the items areacceptable for legal or other reasons to be carried in inventory of thematerials handling facility and offered for sale via one or moreelectronic commerce channels. In one embodiment, the fulfillmentservices provider 700 may choose not to inspect items or to verify thequality of items 724 provided by listing customers 720, and may insteaddepend upon quality assessments performed by purchasing customers 730that purchase and receive items 724 provided by listing customers 720 tomonitor the quality of items 724 and to police listing customers 720. Inone embodiment, the fulfillment services provider 700 may, throughinventory management system 702, provide one or more methods forpurchasing customers 730 to provide feedback on satisfaction withreceived items 724 from listing customers 720, and this feedbackinformation may be provided to potential purchasing customers 730 whendeciding whether to purchase items 724 from particular listing customers720. Thus, a listing customer 720 that gets a bad reputation may havedifficulty in selling items 724 via the fulfillment services provider700 in the future.

Upon receiving the scanned or read information from the packing slip,inventory management system 702 may, in response, provide instructionsas to the disposition of the items 724 contained in the associatedpackage 726 in the facility. For example, the inventory managementsystem 702 may provide instructions that direct the operator or someother operator to put or place each item into a particular location,bin, slot, or other receptacle in inventory storage of the facility. Inone embodiment, the facility may have an area or areas in inventorystorage that are specifically for stocking items 726 received inpackages 726 from listing customers 720 via customer interactions withfulfillment services registration interface 704 as described above.Alternatively, items 726 received in packages 726 from listing customers720 may be stocked with items received from other sources in theinventory storage. In one embodiment, upon receiving the scanned or readinformation from the packing slip, inventory management system 702 may,in response, print item labels for each of the items 724 in the package726. The operator may then apply the printed item labels to each item724, and may forward the item(s), along with stocking instructions, tobe placed or put into inventory storage. The item labels applied to theitem(s) 724 may include information about the item(s) 724 themselves(e.g., proprietary item identifiers used by fulfillment servicesprovider 700, other item identifiers such as UPC or ISBN identifiers,etc.), and may also include information identifying the listing customer720 as the seller of record for the item(s) 724. For example, thelisting customer 720 may have a unique customer account identifierissued to the listing customer 720 upon registration to receive anaccount with the fulfillment services provider 700. The information maybe included on an item label in a scannable or otherwise readableformat, such as a bar code.

In one embodiment, sales listings for items provided by listingcustomer(s) 720 may be provided via one or more electronic commercechannels, which may or may not be provided by the fulfillment servicesprovider 700. By way of example, access via a sales listing servicesinterface 708 to an electronic commerce channel provided by thefulfillment services provider 700 is described, but it is to be notedthat this example is not intended to be limiting, and that otherelectronic commerce channels may be used to list items from listingcustomers 720 for purchase by purchasing customers 730.

In one embodiment, a purchasing customer 730 may access a sales listingservices interface 708 to inventory management system 702, for exampleusing a web browser on purchasing customer system 732.

Alternatively, the purchasing customer may access inventory managementsystem 702 via a different electronic commerce channel, for example anelectronic commerce web site that accesses inventory management system702 via a web services interface. In one embodiment, the purchasingcustomer 730 may be required to register for an account with thefulfillment services provider 700 before accessing the sales listingservices interface 708. The purchasing customer 730 may, for example viathe sales listing services interface 708, browse various items invarious categories offered for sale by the fulfillment services provider700. Items presented to the purchasing customer 730 for sale may includeone or more items 724 which were listed by listing customer 720 andshipped to a facility of the fulfillment services provider 700, asdescribed above. Information on an item 724 listed by listing customer720 may be displayed to the purchasing customer 730 via sales listingservices interface 708. This displayed information may include graphicaland/or textual information. For example, a graphical image of the item724 may be displayed, along with a title, artist or writer (ifapplicable), item description, and pricing information. Specifically,the sale price specified by the listing customer 720 may be displayedwith the associated item 724. Information on one or more other items,including one or more other same or similar items offered for sale bythe fulfillment services provider 700, by other listing customers 730,or by other entities such as one of the merchants described above inreference to FIGS. 1 through 6, may be displayed via the sales listingservices interface 708.

The purchasing customer 730 may select for purchase, for example via thesales listing services interface 708, a particular item from the list ofone or more items displayed. The item may be added to a virtual“shopping cart” for the customer 730. The purchasing customer 730 may,but does not necessarily, further browse the offerings of thefulfillment services provider 700, and may select one or more otheritems for purchase, which are also added to the “shopping cart” for thecustomer, for example via the sales listing services interface 708. Whenthe purchasing customer 730 is ready to “check out”, the customer 730completes the purchase, for example via interaction with the saleslisting services interface 708. A purchase order for the item(s)selected by the customer 730 may be generated by the inventorymanagement system 702, which may include one or more items 724 listed bythe listing customer 720 and possibly one or more other items listed byother listing customers 720 or by other entities, including but notlimited to the fulfillment services provider 700, and selected forpurchase by the purchasing customer 730. In one embodiment, the listingcustomer 720 is the seller of record for any item 724 purchased by thepurchasing customer 730 on a purchase order. Other items on the purchaseorder, if any, will have other sellers of record.

In one embodiment, rather than listing an item 724 from a listingcustomer 720 separately on a display presented to a purchasing customer730, for example via sales listing services interface 708, the item 724may be included in a group of two or more similar items listed at thesame price. For example, the listing customer 720 may list a particularused book to be sold at $5.00. One or more other listing customers 720may list the same used book at the same sale price, or the same usedbook from other sources may be offered at the same price. As an example,sales listing services interface 708 may thus display something like“Ten used copies of that book are listed at $5.00. Click here to selectone of the used books at that price.” Thus, the purchasing customer 730may simply select to purchase any one of the books. Which particularbook is selected and sent to the customer 730 may be determined by anyof a variety of methods that may be implemented by the inventorymanagement system 702. For example, a FIFO method may be used, in whichan item that has been listed the longest is the next item selected.Alternatively, an item with the highest quality may be the next bookselected. As another alternative, an item may be selected using somerandomizing algorithm. As an alternative to, or in addition to, thepurchasing customer selecting any one of the used books (essentiallyselecting the item at random from the point of view of the customer730), the sales listing services interface 708, for example, may providea method for the purchasing customer 730 to further browse the items,for example to determine the condition of the used books as specified bythe listing customers 720, and may allow the purchasing customer 730 toselect a particular one of the used books (or other types of items) forpurchase at that price. (Note that books are used by way of example; thesame or similar methods may be used for other types or categories ofitems).

In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider 700 may, throughinventory management system 702, provide one or more methods forpurchasing customers 730 to provide feedback on satisfaction withreceived items 724 from listing customers 720, and this feedbackinformation may be provided to potential purchasing customers 730. Thus,the (good or bad) reputation of listing customer 720 may be madeavailable to purchasing customer 730 for consideration when thepurchasing customer 730 is deciding whether to purchase an item 724provided by the listing customer 720 or, possibly, from some othersource. Further, if the purchasing customer 730 purchases one or moreitems 724 provided by listing customer 720, the purchasing customer 730may choose to enter feedback on the purchase. Thus, purchasingcustomer(s) 730 may, through feedback, help to insure that the qualityof merchandise provided by listing customers 720 is as indicated by thelisting customer 720. Listing customers 720 that gather a bad reputationmay have a hard time selling listed items 724 in the future, which maybe a motivation for listing customers 720 to be honest in anydescription of an item 724 provided via the fulfillment servicesregistration interface 704.

Once a purchase order including at least one of the items 724 listed bythe listing customer 720 has been generated for the purchasing customerby inventory management system 702, the purchase order may be sent tothe facility (e.g., materials handling facility 712) of the fulfillmentservice provider 700 to be processed. Note that the fulfillment serviceprovider 700 may have two or more facilities 712 in which inventory isstored, picked, and processed for shipping, and therefore it is possiblethat portions of a purchase order may be forwarded to and fulfilled attwo or more such facilities. However, for the sake of simplicity, itwill be assumed in this example that all items listed on the purchaseorder are fulfillable in facility 712.

At facility 712, in an order fulfillment process, an operator oroperators may be tasked with picking items to fulfill the purchase ordergenerated by purchasing customer 730. The operator(s) may then pick theitem(s) from inventory storage to fulfill the purchase order, includingthe one or more items 724 that were listed for sale by the listingcustomer 720, which may be picked from the location in inventory wherethe items 724 were stored according to the instructions provided by theinventory management system 702, and deliver the picked item(s) to oneor more processing stations for processing. At the processingstation(s), collections of mixed picked items from various orders may besorted into their respective orders, if necessary, and additionalprocessing may be performed on the sorted orders, if necessary. Once theorder for purchasing customer 730 is ready for packing, the items in theorder, which may include one or more items 724 listed by listingcustomer 720 and one or more other items 736, may be packed into one ormore boxes or other shipping containers or receptacles for shipping as ashipment 734 to the purchasing customer 730. It is possible that all ofthe items to fulfill the purchasing customer 730's order may not havebeen available in the facility 712, and therefore the shipment 734 maybe a partial shipment to satisfy the customer 730's order, with themissing items on backorder to be picked and shipped to the purchasingcustomer 730 at a later date.

In one embodiment, the inventory management system 702 may determine ifthe purchase order received from the purchasing customer 730 is eligiblefor a particular shipping option or program, for example for a discountshipping program, free shipping program for purchases over a certainamount, or some promotional or special shipping opportunity. If thepurchase order is eligible for a particular shipping option or program,the inventory management system 702 may notify the purchasing customer730 at the time of purchase, and may instruct the operators at thefacility 712 that the shipment 734 is to be shipped to the purchasingcustomer 730 under terms of the particular shipping option or program.

The item label on an item 724 listed and provided by listing customer720 may be scanned or otherwise read at least once during the orderfulfillment process. For example, an operator, upon picking an item 724,may scan, for example using a hand-held scanner, the item label from theitem. Thus, the information on the picked item 724, which may includeinformation identifying the particular listing customer 720, may becommunicated to the inventory management system 702.

The item(s) on the purchase order, or at least a portion of the items,including one or more items 724 listed by listing customer 724 andpossibly one or more other items 736, may then be shipped to thepurchasing customer 730 as shipment 734. The listing customer 720 islisted as the seller of record for items 724 that were listed andprovided by the customer 720. Other entities are listed as the sellersof records for other items 736, if any. Once the purchasing customer 730receives the shipment 734, the customer 730 may examine the itemscontained therein, including the item(s) 724 listed and provided bylisting customer 720. As noted above, in one embodiment, the inventorymanagement system 702 may provide a method and interface for thepurchasing customer 730 to provide feedback on the purchase of item(s)724, if desired. For example, if the item(s) 724 provided by listingcustomer 720 are of much poorer quality than was indicated by thelisting customer 720, the purchasing customer 730 may provide feedbackthat indicates the quality of item(s) 724 provided by listing customer720 is poor. Conversely, if the item(s) 724 provided by listing customer720 are of high quality, the purchasing customer 730 may providefeedback that the listing customer 720 provides high-quality items 724.

As noted above, some or all fees and charges may be backloaded so thatthe listing customer 720 does not have to pay the fulfillment serviceprovider 700 for the services provided until after an item 724 is sold.At some point, either after a purchase order including an item 724listed by listing customer 720 is generated, or alternatively after theitem 724 is actually picked and processed for shipping, the listingcustomer 724 is paid for the sale of the item 724. In one embodiment,the customer 720 is paid the sale price of the item 724 minus anycharges or fees assessed by the fulfillment service provider 700. In oneembodiment, the payment may be an electronic payment made as anelectronic transfer to an account 728 of the listing customer 720. Theaccount 728 may be a bank account, or some other account as specified bythe customer. In one embodiment, alternative payment methods may beoffered; for example, the listing customer 720 may choose to be paid bya check that is mailed or otherwise delivered to the customer 720. Inone embodiment, the inventory management system 702 may, via thefulfillment services registration interface 704, provide a method forthe listing customer 720 to specify a particular account 728 or someother payment method for all of the listed items 728. In one embodiment,the inventory management system 702 may, via the fulfillment servicesregistration interface 704, provide a method for the listing customer720 to specify a particular account 728 or some other payment method forall of the listed items 728, or alternatively for each item 728 listedseparately.

In one embodiment, the fulfillment service provider 700 may provide,through the inventory management system 702, one or more other optionsfor dispersal of profits from sales by listing customers 720. Forexample, the fulfillment service provider 700 may provide, through theinventory management system 702, an option to donate a portion or all ofthe profits to a charity or charity fund, or to some other non-profitorganization, which may be specified by the fulfillment service provider700 or optionally specified by the listing customer 720. In oneembodiment, the fulfillment service provider 700 may provide an optionto the listing customer 720 to have the profit from a sale of item(s)724 credited to a purchasing account maintained by the fulfillmentservice provider 700, and thus the listing customer 720 can use thefunds in that account to apply to future purchases from the fulfillmentservice provider 700.

The inventory management system 702 may provide notifications, forexample via email, to the listing customer 720. As an example, a emailmay be sent to the listing customer to inform the listing customer thatan item or items 724 listed by the customer 720 has sold, and that theprofits from the sale are to be electronically transferred to theaccount specified by the customer 724 (or otherwise dispersed). Asanother example, an email may be sent to the customer 720 to notify thecustomer that an item is about to or has expired its listing period(e.g., 90 days) without selling. In one embodiment, this email mayrequest a reply from the customer selecting from among two or moreoptions as to what to do with this item 724 (e.g., return, liquidate,recycle, reduce price, etc.) Any additional handling charges or fees foran item 724 that has expired may be communicated to the customer 720,and the listing customer's account 728 may be charged for the fees viaan electronic transfer. Other emails may be sent, for example to notifythe customer 720 of the status of a shipped package 726, e.g. to notifythe customer 720 that the package 726 has been received, and that thepackage 726 contains (or does not contain, if that is the case) all ofthe items 724 indicated by the packing slip.

In one embodiment, the inventory management system 702 may provide a webpage or pages specific to the listing customer 720 whereby the listingcustomer 720 can log on (with appropriate identification and passwordinformation) and check the status of shipped packages 726, the status oflisted items 724 in inventory, the status of sales of the listed items724, and so on. The inventory management system 702 may also provide,via the customer 720's web page or pages, the ability for the customer720 to modify information on listed items(s) 724, for example theability for the customer to increase or decrease the requested saleprice of listed item(s) 724 and to change the description of listeditem(s) 724. The inventory management system 702 may also provide, viathe customer 720's web page or pages, recommendations on adjusting theprice of listed item(s) 724 based on historical sales information forthe specific item(s) 724 or similar item(s) 724.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a computer-implemented method forproviding inventory fulfillment services to customers who have singleunits of items or small quantities of possibly heterogeneous items thatthey wish to list for sale with a fulfillment services provider,according to various embodiments. An exemplary computer system on whichembodiments of the method may be implemented is illustrated in FIG. 19.As indicated at 750, a fulfillment services provider may receive, from alisting customer, a request to receive inventory fulfillment servicesfor a sale of one or more items. If the request is to receive inventoryfulfillment for a plurality of items, the plurality of items may includeat least two heterogeneous items. The items may, for example, includeused items that the listing customer wishes to sell through theinventory fulfillment services offered by the fulfillment servicesprovider, such as media items (CDs, DVDs, video games, books, etc.),other types or categories of items, or mixed categories or types ofitems. In one embodiment, the request may be received via acomputer-implemented fulfillment services registration interface, suchas fulfillment services registration interface 704 illustrated in FIG.7. FIGS. 9A through 14 illustrate an exemplary graphical user interfaceimplementation for a fulfillment services registration interface. Thelisting customer may, for example, access the fulfillment servicesregistration interface via a web browser on a listing customer computersystem or via some other web-enabled device.

As illustrated at 752, the fulfillment services provider may provide tothe listing customer, for example via the fulfillment servicesregistration interface, suggested pricing information for the one ormore items in response to the request to receive inventory fulfillmentservices for the one or more items. In one embodiment, to provide thesuggested pricing information to the listing customer for a given item,the fulfillment services provider may evaluate historical sales datacorresponding to the given item and generate a suggested price range forthe given item in accordance with the historical sales data.

As illustrated at 754, the fulfillment services provider may determinewhether the listing customer's request to receive inventory fulfillmentservices for the one or more items satisfies one or more listing rulesof the fulfillment services provider. In one embodiment, to determinethat the listing customer's request satisfies a particular one of theone or more listing rules with respect to a given item, the fulfillmentservices provider may determine that a sales price specified by thecustomer, via the fulfillment services registration interface, for thegiven item is within a suggested price range, which may, for example, bedetermined from an evaluation of historical sales data.

In one embodiment, to determine that the listing customer's requestsatisfies a particular one of the one or more listing rules with respectto a given item, the fulfillment services provider may estimate thelisting customer's expected profit for the given item if the given itemsells. In one embodiment, the expected profit may be determined as theasking sale price for the item (which may be specified by the listingcustomer via the fulfillment services registration interface) minus anyexpected inventory fulfillment services transaction costs or fees forthe given item. In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider mayreject a request to receive inventory fulfillment services for the givenitem if the determined profit for the given item if sold is less than aspecified threshold. The specified threshold may be, but is notnecessarily, zero. In one embodiment, the listing customer may beprovided with the opportunity to adjust the sale price of the itemupwards, if desired, or to list a given item even though the expectedprofit is zero or negative, if desired.

In other embodiments, to determine that the listing customer's requestsatisfies a particular one of the one or more listing rules with respectto a given item, the fulfillment services provider may filter the givenitems according to one or more other listing rules. For example, thefulfillment services provider may choose not to accept out-of-date items(e.g., older versions of textbooks, older generations of personalelectronic equipment, etc.), items with poor sales history, and/orcertain categories or types of items, certain titles of various mediaproducts. In general, the listing rules may be used to filter items thatthe fulfillment services provider will not accept according to any setof criteria that the fulfillment services provider requires or desires.

As illustrated at 756, if the fulfillment services provider determinesthat the request satisfies the one or more listing rules, thefulfillment services provider may provide to the listing customerinformation for conveying the one or more items to the fulfillmentservices provider. This information, which may be referred to asshipping information, may be provided to the customer via thefulfillment services registration interface. For example, the shippinginformation may be displayed via the fulfillment services registrationinterface in printable form. Alternatively, the shipping information maybe emailed to the listing customer, or provided via some othercommunications channel or method. As indicated above, one or more itemsmay be rejected by the fulfillment services provider, or alternativelymay be removed from the original request by the listing customer, ifnecessary or desired. Thus, the shipping information may only specifyones of the one or more items that are accepted by the fulfillmentservices provider and by the listing customer.

In one embodiment, the shipping information may include a shipping list,or packing slip, that lists accepted ones of the one or more possiblyheterogeneous items. In one embodiment, the shipping information mayalso include one or more package labels that specify at least the shipfrom and ship to addresses. In one embodiment, shipping costs may beprepaid, and thus the package label(s) may specify prepaid shipping. Inone embodiment, the shipping information provided to the listingcustomer may also include information on one or more carriers ordelivery services, for example street addresses, drop-off locations,phone numbers, and/or schedules, that are available near the listingcustomer's address to deliver shipments to the ship to address specifiedby the fulfillment services provider. In one embodiment, either one orboth of the packing slip and package label may include scannable orotherwise readable information that may be used by a carrier or deliveryservice and/or by the fulfillment services provider upon receiving thepackage(s).

The packing slip and each item may be placed by the listing customerinto a package or packages, the packing label(s) may be applied to theoutside of the package(s), and the package(s) may be shipped to afacility of the fulfillment services provider as specified by the shipto address on the package label. The facility may be a materialshandling facility, for example an order fulfillment center. Uponarriving at the facility as specified by the ship to address on thepackage label, an inventory management system of the fulfillmentservices provider, such as inventory management system 702 illustratedin FIG. 7, may detect that the package(s) have been received at thefacility. For example, the package label on the package may be scanned,which identifies to the inventory management system that the shipmentfrom the listing customer has arrived. In one embodiment, the packagemay be opened, and the packing slip may be removed. The packing slip mayinclude scannable or otherwise readable information. For example, thepacking slip may include a bar code. An operator may scan or otherwiseread the information from the packing slip. Upon receiving the scannedor read information from the packing slip and/or from the packing label,the inventory management system may, in response, provide instructionsas to the disposition of the items contained in the associated packagein the facility. For example, the inventory management system mayprovide instructions that direct the operator or some other operator oroperators to put or place each item in the package into a particularlocation, bin, slot, or other receptacle in inventory storage of thefacility. In one embodiment, the items may be commingled with otheritems that are not associated with the listing customer within inventorystorage of the facility.

As illustrated at 758, if the fulfillment services provider determinesthat the request satisfies the one or more listing rules, thefulfillment services provider may generate respective sales listings forthe one or more items within one or more electronic commerce channels.In one embodiment, an electronic commerce channel may be provided by thefulfillment services provider, for example via a sales listing servicesinterface such as sales listing services interface 708 illustrated anddescribed for FIG. 7, or as another example via an electronic commerceweb site that accesses the inventory management system of thefulfillment services provider in accordance with a web servicesinterface. As indicated above, one or more items may be rejected by thefulfillment services provider or removed from the original request bythe listing customer, if necessary or desired. Thus, sales listings mayonly be generated for ones of the one or more items that are accepted bythe fulfillment services provider and by the listing customer. In oneembodiment, the fulfillment services provider may provide, via thefulfillment services registration interface, an option and interface(e.g., a web page) for the listing customer to remove the sales listingfor an item if desired, and/or to modify a sales listing, for example bychanging the sales price or editing listing customer comments. In oneembodiment, the fulfillment services provider may reserve the right toremove any sales listing for an item and/or to modify a sales listing ifnecessary or desired.

In one embodiment, if a given one of the one or more items listed by thelisting customer sells via the sales listings on the electronic commercechannel(s), the fulfillment services provider may assess any charges andfees to the listing customer for inventory fulfillment services relatedto the given item. In one embodiment, the charges and fees arebackloaded; that is, the listing customer pays the fees when the itemactually sells, and thus the profit for the sale is the sales priceminus the fees. In one embodiment, the listing customer is the seller ofrecord for each item sold via the sales listings on the electroniccommerce channel(s).

In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider may specify alisting period, or expiration period, after which sales listings on theelectronic commerce channel(s) may expire. For example, the fulfillmentservices provider may expire sales listings after 90 days. In oneembodiment, different lengths of listing periods may be applied todifferent types or categories of items. In one embodiment, if a givenitem does not sell prior to the expiration of its corresponding saleslisting, the fulfillment services provider may not assess fees to thelisting customer for the costs of inventory fulfillment servicesincurred prior to the expiration of the corresponding sales listing. Inone embodiment, at least a portion of the fees for the costs ofinventory fulfillment services incurred prior to the expiration of thecorresponding sales listing may be assessed to the listing customer forgiven items that do not sell before the listing period for thecorresponding sales listing expires.

In one embodiment, after expiration of a sales listing, thecorresponding item may be returned to the listing customer. In otherembodiments, the corresponding item may be disposed of via one of one ormore other methods. In one embodiment, the item may be reduced in price,and the sales listing accordingly adjusted, for an extended listingperiod. In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider may, afterthe listing period for an item expires without the item being sold,reduce the sale price of the item by some amount (e.g., 10%), and thenreduce the price again after a period (e.g., two days, or a week) if theitem does not sell at that price, and may continue periodically oraperiodically reducing the price until the item sells or, if the itemdoes not sell, otherwise disposing of the item. In one embodiment, forany item that has not sold by the end of the listing period, thefulfillment services provider may continue to carry the item, but maybegin charging stocking and possibly other applicable inventoryfulfillment services fees to the listing customer. In one embodiment,the item may be liquidated, for example by selling the item to awholesaler at a wholesale or liquidation price. In one embodiment, theitem may be thrown away or recycled, if possible. In one embodiment, theitem may be donated to a charity or other not-for-profit organization.In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider may notify thelisting customer, for example via email or via a web page provided viathe fulfillment services registration interface, when a sales listingfor an item is about to or has expired. In one embodiment, thefulfillment services provider may, via the fulfillment servicesregistration interface or via some other communications channel, providethe listing customer with two or more options for disposal of an itemfor which the corresponding sales listing has expired, and the listingcustomer may thus select a desired disposal option. In one embodiment,the fulfillment services provider may assess appropriate fees to thelisting customer in accordance with the method of disposal of the item.If there is any profit from the disposal of the item, for example if theitem is sold at a reduced price that provides a profit after assessmentof any applicable fees, the listing customer may be paid the profit bythe fulfillment services provider, for example via an electronic fundstransfer to an account of the listing customer. If there is no profit,but instead a negative profit or loss, due to the fees for handling anddisposal of the item after expiration of the corresponding saleslisting, the listing customer may be assessed for the charges.

Assessment of any fees or charges for the handling and disposal may alsobe performed via electronic funds transfer from an account of thelisting customer.

After the items are listed on the one or more electronic commercechannels and received into the inventory storage of the facility asdescribed above, the inventory management system of the fulfillmentservices provider may receive an order from a purchasing customer for agiven one of the items provided by the listing customer, and possiblyalso specifying one or more other items not provided by the listingcustomer. The order may be received, for example, via one of the one ormore electronic commerce channels.

In response to receiving the order from the purchasing customer, theinventory management system may issue instructions to the operators atthe facility that direct the operators in picking, packing, and shippingthe given item, along with other items, if any, to the purchasingcustomer. In one embodiment, the listing customer is the seller ofrecord of the given item, and only of the given item. In response toreceiving the order from the purchasing customer, the inventorymanagement system may credit to the listing customer the sales price forthe given item less any inventory fulfillment services fees assessed tothe listing customer for the given item.

In one embodiment, the inventory management system may determine if theorder received from the purchasing customer is eligible for a particularshipping option or program, for example for a discount shipping programor promotional shipping opportunity. If the order is eligible for aparticular shipping option or program, the inventory management systemmay instruct the operators at the facility that the order including thegiven item is to be shipped to the purchasing customer under terms ofthe particular shipping option or program.

Exemplary User Interface

FIGS. 9A-G and FIG. 10 through FIG. 14 illustrate an exemplary userinterface that may be provided via a fulfillment services registrationinterface, such as fulfillment services registration interface 704illustrated in FIG. 7, for providing access to inventory fulfillmentservices to listing customers who have single units of items or smallquantities of possibly heterogeneous items that they wish to list forsale with a fulfillment services provider, according to one embodiment.In one embodiment, the various displays of the exemplary user interfaceillustrated in FIG. 9A through FIG. 14 may be provided to the listingcustomer as web pages via the fulfillment services registrationinterface. The web pages may be displayed and accessed by the listingcustomer using a web browser on a computer system accessible to thelisting customer, or via some other web-enabled device. In oneembodiment, the listing customer must have an account with thefulfillment services provider to access the exemplary user interface.The user interface illustrated in FIG. 9A through FIG. 14 is exemplary,and is not intended to be limiting.

FIG. 9A illustrates an exemplary user interface display for generating alist of one or more possibly heterogeneous items that a listing customerdesires to list for sell via the inventory fulfillment services providedby the fulfillment services provider, according to one embodiment.Display 800 may be accessed from one or more links on or more other webpages provided on a electronic commerce web site of the fulfillmentservices provider, or alternatively from one or more links on or moreweb pages on one or more other web sites which may or may not bedirectly associated with the fulfillment services provider. In oneembodiment, a web page may provide, as options to a listing customer, alink to display 800 and a link to a web page such as web page 610 ofFIG. 6 for accessing the functionality of the inventory fulfillmentservices as described above for merchants. Thus, a listing customer maybe provided with an option to use one or the other of the embodiments ofthe inventory fulfillment services described herein.

Display 800 may include, but is not limited to, a search 802 area and alist 820 area. Search 802 area may be used by the listing customer tosearch for and select particular items in a catalog of the fulfillmentservices provider that match items that the listing customer desires tolist with the fulfillment services provider. Search 802 may include asearch category 804 user interface element that enables the listingcustomer to select a category for an item to be searched for. Categoriesmay include, but are not limited to, various media categories (e.g.,books, music, subcategories of music or books, DVDs, movies,subcategories of movies, video and/or computer games, etc.), and variousother categories (e.g., personal electronic devices, appliances, tools,electric tools, etc.). In general, any type or category of item listedin a catalog of the fulfillment services provider may be entered orselected in search category 804. In one embodiment, search category 804may be a menu from which a particular category may be selected. In oneembodiment, search category 804 may be a text entry box that acceptsalphanumeric input.

Search 802 may also include a search for 806 user interface element. Inone embodiment, search for 806 may be a text entry box that acceptsalphanumeric input. In one embodiment, search for 806 may accept one ormore of, but is not limited to, an ISBN of a book, a Universal ProductCode (UPC), a proprietary item identifier used by the fulfillmentservices provider, some other identifier associated with items, a titleor portion of a title, an artist or author's name, or some otherkeyword. In one embodiment, one or more logical operators may be enteredto construct a search expression; for example, the user may enter “SmithAND Blues” to search for titles that include both the words Smith andBlues. Search 802 may also include a “Go” 808 user interface element,for example a button, to initiate a search for a specified search for806 in the specified search category 804.

List 820 is where particular items selected by the listing customer areto be listed. List 820 may include a summary 822 of the listed items,which may display the total number of units listed and the estimatedtotal profit if all of the units are sold. List 820 may also include acomplete 824 user interface element that the listing customer may selectwhen the customer has completed the listing of items.

In FIG. 9A, the listing customer has selected a category of “Popularmusic”, specified a search string, and selected Go 808. At least threeitems have been located in the catalog that meet the specified searchcriteria. These items are displayed horizontally in search 802 area asitems 810A, 810B, and 810C. Items 810 may provide graphical and/ortextual descriptions of and information about the items in the catalog.For example, an item 810 may display a graphical image of an item suchas a CD, and may display an ISBN, UPC, or some other code or identifierassociated with the item. One or more user interface elements, e.g. More812, may be provided to scroll or otherwise view other items 810 thathave been located via the search but that are not currently displayed.In one embodiment, each item 810 may be user-selectable, for example byhovering a cursor over an item 810 and left-clicking a mouse, to add theitem to list 820. In one embodiment, a Select 812 user interface elementmay also or instead be provided with each item 810 whereby the listingcustomer may select the associated item 810. At this point, the listingcustomer has not yet selected a particular item 810 that best matches anitem that the customer wants to list.

In FIG. 9B, the listing customer has selected item 810A, and item 810Ahas been added to list 820. List 820 may include one or more other userinterface elements associated with item 810A. For example, list 820 mayinclude item information 826 that displays additional textual and/orgraphical information related to item 810A, such as the title, weight,type or category, identifier(s), and so on. List 820 may also includeone or more user interface elements in which the listing customer mayselect or enter information related to the particular item in thelisting customer's possession that the listing customer wishes to listfor sale. In one embodiment, list 820 may include a Condition 828 userinterface element, which may for example be a selectable menu item, viawhich the listing customer may select an approximate condition from arange of two or more conditions for the particular item in the listingcustomer's possession. For example, selectable conditions may includesomething like “like new”, “very good”, “average”, and “poor.” In oneembodiment, list 820 may include a Condition notes 830 user interfaceelement in which the listing customer may enter text further describingthe condition (or other aspects) of the particular item. In oneembodiment, list 820 may include a quantity 834 user interface elementin which the listing customer may specify how many units of theparticular item 810A (one or more) the listing customer is listing forsale.

In one embodiment, list 820 may include a price 832 user interfaceelement. In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider mayautomatically determine a price for the selected item 810 and may enterthe price in price 832 user interface element. In one embodiment, thelisting customer may enter a desired sale price in price 832 userinterface element. In one embodiment, list 820 may include a userinterface element 836 that shows an estimated profit if the item is soldat the specified sales price. The profit is calculated from thespecified sale price minus any appropriate inventory fulfillment servicefees assessed to the listing customer upon sale of the associated item.Note that the profit if sold may be negative if the estimated fees aregreater than the sale price specified in price 832. In one embodiment,list 820 may include a user interface element 838 that shows currentand/or historical asking sale prices for item 810A In one embodiment, asshown, user interface element 838 may show the number of new items 810Acurrently in inventory of the fulfillment services provider and theminimum sale price for the item 810A as new, and the number of useditems 810A currently in inventory of the fulfillment services providerand the minimum sale price for the item 810A as used. In one embodiment,list 820 may also show a range of sale prices, from the minimum saleprice to the maximum sale price. In one embodiment, list 820 may alsoshow more detailed pricing information, for example sale prices for useditems in various conditions. In one embodiment, the more detailedpricing information may also include an estimated amount of time to sellthe item 810 as listed by the listing customer at one or more saleprices. Thus, the fulfillment services provider, via the user interfaceprovided in display 800, may coach the listing customer in selecting anappropriate sale price for particular items in particular conditions.

In one embodiment, list 820 may include an Add 840 user interfaceelement that may be selected to add the associated item 810A displayedin list 820 area to an actual list of items that the listing customerwishes to sell. In one embodiment, Add 840 may be disabled until thelisting customer completes one or more required fields associated withthe item 810A. In FIG. 9B, the listing customer has not yet completedthe fields associated with item 810A, and therefore the item 810A, whilelisted, has not yet been added. Note that the summary 822 of listeditems still shows zero units and zero total profit.

In FIG. 9C, the listing customer has entered information in the variousfields of list 820 associated with item 810A, and has added item 810A byselecting Add 840 of FIG. 9B. The listing customer has specified a saleprice of $30.00 for the single unit of item 810A that the customerwishes to sell. An expected profit if sold of $22.58 is displayed byProfit if sold 836 user interface element. The summary 822 of listeditems now shows one unit and $22.58 total profit. A Remove 844 userinterface element is displayed for item 810A, which the listing customermay select to remove item 810A from the list. Note that the Search 802area has been cleared or reset to its default condition of notdisplaying any items 810 in response to the listing customer selectingAdd 840 associated with item 810A.

In FIG. 9D, the listing customer has selected a category of “Books”,specified a search string, and selected Go 808. At least three itemshave been located in the catalog that meet the specified searchcriteria. These items are displayed horizontally in search 802 area asitems 810D, 810E, and 810F. At this point, the listing customer has notyet selected a particular item 810 that best matches an item that thecustomer wants to list, and thus another item 810 has not been added tolist 820.

In FIG. 9E, the listing customer has selected item 810E, and item 810Ehas been added to list 820. The listing customer has not yet enteredinformation in the various fields of list 820 associated with item 810E,and has not yet selected Add 840 for item 810E. The summary 822 oflisted items still shows one unit and $22.58 total profit.

In FIG. 9F, the listing customer has entered information in the variousfields of list 820 associated with item 810E, and has selected Add 840for item 810E. Note that the sale price 832 for item 810E is $1.50, andthe Profit if sold 836 for item 810E is $−0.99. The listing customerwill lose money if the item 810E is sold at the asking sale price. Thesummary 822 of listed items now shows two units and $21.59 total profitif all units are sold. If the expected profit if sold for an item 810 isnegative, the Profit if sold 836 user interface element may display thenegative profit in bold and/o in color (e.g., red), or may use one ormore other methods to highlight the negative profit. Alternatively, thedisplay 800 may alert the listing customer via some other mechanism ormechanisms that sale of the item at the specified sale price may resultin a negative profit. The listing customer may choose to raise the priceto at least a break-even level in response, or may choose not to listthe item, e.g. by selecting the remove 844 user interface element.

In one embodiment, the fulfillment services provider may refuse toaccept a listing for an item that will result in a negative profit, orloss. In this embodiment, the fulfillment services provider may, via theuser interface presented on display 800 or via some other mechanism,alert the listing customer that the item 810 will not be accepted at thespecified price. In this embodiment, the Add 840 user interface elementmay be disabled for an associated item 810 that will result in anegative profit if sold at the specified price. The listing customer maychoose to raise the price to at least a break-even level in response, ormay choose not to list the item.

In FIG. 9G, the listing customer has removed item 810E and searched forand selected two other items 810, items 810G and 810H. The listingcustomer has entered information in the various fields of list 820associated with items 810G and 810H, and has selected Add 840 for items810G and 810H. The summary 822 of listed items now shows three units and$32.72 total profit. If the listing customer is done with the listing ofitems that the customer wishes to sell, the listing customer may selectthe complete 824 user interface element. Otherwise, the listing customermay continue to work on the list, searching for and adding other items810, and possibly editing or removing listed items 810.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary confirmation box 850 that may bedisplayed in response to the listing customer selecting the complete 824user interface element of display 800. The listing customer may select“OK” to finalize the list of items that will be the content of ashipment to the fulfillment services provider, or optionally may select“Cancel” to cancel the operation and return to display 800 asillustrated in FIG. 9G.

FIG. 11 illustrates a display 860 that may be displayed in response tothe listing customer selecting the “OK” user interface element ofconfirmation box 850. In display 860, the listing customer may specify aship from address for a shipment containing the items specified in thelist created using display 800 of FIGS. 9A through 9G. In oneembodiment, display 860 may include a user-selectable list of one ormore addresses 862. The address(es) 862 may be obtained from existingaccount information for the listing customer. In one embodiment, display860 may include an address entry 864 user interface element or elementsin which the listing customer may specify a ship from address for theshipment.

FIG. 12 illustrates a display 870 that includes a printable and/ordownloadable package label 872 or labels for the shipment. In oneembodiment, display 870 may be displayed in response to the listingcustomer selecting an address in display 860 of FIG. 11. Package label872 may include a ship from address (e.g., address 862A selected fromdisplay 860) and a ship to address 874 that specifies the address of afacility to which the package(s) are to be shipped. Package label 872may also include a purchase order/shipment identifier, such as a barcode 878 and alphanumeric shipment/package identifier number. Packagelabel 872 may also include a special processing and handlingnotification 876, which may, for example, be a visual alert to operatorsat the ship to facility that the package has been received from alisting customer as described herein. Display 870 may also include auser interface element, e.g. a print button, which the listing user mayselect to print the package label(s) 872. Display 870 may also include auser interface element, e.g. a “continue” button, which the listing usermay select to go to a next display, for example display 880 of FIG. 13.

FIG. 13 illustrates a display 880 that includes a printable and/ordownloadable packing slip 882 to be included in or alternativelyattached to a package of the shipment. Packing slip 882 may include aship from address (e.g., address 862A selected from display 860) and aship to address 874 that specifies the address of a facility to whichthe package(s) are to be shipped. Packing slip 882 may also include apurchase order/shipment identifier, such as a bar code 884 andalphanumeric shipment identifier number. In one embodiment, packing slip882 may include a shipment content list 888 that may include a list ofeach item and item quantities contained in the shipment (there may betwo or more of a particular item in a shipment). Information for eachitem listed may include one or more of, but is not limited to, an itemname, item description, item identifier (e.g., UPC code, ISBN number, orother item identifier), item condition as specified by the listingcustomer, and quantity. Packing slip 882 may also include specialprocessing and handling instructions 886, which may, for example,instruct operators at the ship to facility that the package has beenreceived from a listing customer as described herein, and may provideinstructions for handling the items contained in the shipment. Forexample, the instructions may include something like:

1. Print and apply item labels over existing barcodes.

2. Receive using a special purchase order type.

Display 880 may also include a user interface element, e.g. a printbutton, which the listing user may select to print the packing slip 882.Display 880 may also include a user interface element, e.g. a “continue”button, which the listing user may select to go to a next display.

While FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate separate displays for the packinglabel(s) and packing slip, in an alternative embodiment, a singledisplay may be used to display the packing label(s) and packing slip tothe listing customer.

FIG. 14 illustrates a display 890 that may be displayed upon completionof processing of a list of one or more, possibly heterogeneous, items bythe listing customer for shipment to the fulfillment services provider.On display 890, the listing customer may be provided with user interfaceelements that allow the customer to either begin the process over togenerate a new shipment, or to exit out of the process and return to aprevious web page or display. The listing customer may be provided withone or more user interface elements that allow the listing customer toproceed to a “seller account” web page or pages specific to the listingcustomer wherein the listing customer may view and manage informationabout the generated shipment or previously generated shipments.

Inventory Fulfillment Services for Existing Listing Customers

In various embodiments, the above-described inventory management systemmay be configured to provide listing services to listing customers(e.g., merchants that have items listed with the inventory managementsystem), as illustrated by FIG. 15. Note that like numbered elements ofFIG. 15 and FIG. 7 may in various embodiments be substantially similaror in some cases the same. In various embodiments, listing customers mayinclude individuals and/or merchants that have received listing services(e.g., the listing services provided by interface 708) for one or moreitems while retaining the responsibility of fulfilling such items (e.g.,packaging and shipping to purchasing customers). Such items may bereferred to herein as listing customer fulfilled items. In variousembodiments, a listing customer, such as listing customer 720 may listlisting customer fulfilled items, such as items 924, with a fulfillmentservices management interface of inventory management system 702.Fulfillment services management interface may 904 in various embodimentsprovide listing services to customers that desire to utilize the listingfunctionality (e.g., sales listing services interface 708 and database706) of the inventory management system in order to sell one or moreitems to purchasing customers, such as purchasing customer 730. While inthe illustrated embodiment the listing customer may list one or moreitems with the inventory management system via fulfillment servicesmanagement interface 904, the listing customer may in the illustratedembodiment retain responsibility of fulfilling purchase orders for oneor more items that are sold (e.g., packaging and shipping such items toa purchasing customer). In various embodiments, the functionality offulfillment services management interface 904 for listing one or moreitems for sale through an ecommerce channel (e.g., adding relevant iteminformation to database 706, creating sales listings available throughinterface 708) may be substantially similar (and in some cases the same)as the functionality described above in regard to fulfillment servicesregistration interface 704.

For instance, in some cases, the inventory management system describedherein may be configured to provide listing services, such as thelisting services provided by sales listing services interface 708, forone or more listed items. For each listed item, the inventory managementsystem may be configured to generate and maintain respective saleslistings, such as web pages of the marketplace e-commerce channeldescribed above, as well as other product information (e.g., itemdescriptions, item prices, other item-related information, etc.). Suchproduct web pages may enable purchasing customers, such as purchasingcustomer 732, to engage in commerce with the fulfillment servicesprovider in order to purchase an item from the listing customer. When apurchasing customer purchases a listed item via an ecommerce channel,the inventory management system may be configured to provide therespective listing customer with notification of such purchase (e.g.,one or more purchase orders). Accordingly, the listing customer maycomplete the necessary fulfillment actions (e.g., packaging andshipping) to provide the purchasing customer with the listed item(s).For instance, in the illustrated embodiment, sales listing serviceinterface 708 may be configured to provide one or more purchase ordersto listing customer 720 in response to the purchasing of one or moreitems by purchasing customer 730. Listing customer 720 may fulfill thepurchase order by packaging the items specified by the purchase orderand shipping such items to the purchasing customer, such as illustratedby shipment 934 including item(s) 924A.

In some cases, listing customers may desire to transition listingcustomer fulfilled items to items that are fulfilled by the fulfillmentservice provider 700. Accordingly, in various embodiments, the inventorymanagement system may enable listing customers to easily transitionlisted items, which would otherwise be fulfilled by the listingcustomer, to items that are fulfilled by the fulfillment servicesprovider described herein. In various embodiments, one or more listeditems may be transitioned in a batched manner into items that arefulfilled by the fulfillment service provider. For example, theinventory management system may identify all of the listing customer'slisted items and transition the listed items such that they are to befulfilled by the fulfillment services provider. In various embodiments,the fulfillment service provider's inventory management system may beconfigured to, in response to only a single action being performed,perform one or more inventory management actions to transition thelisting customer fulfilled items into items to be fulfilled by thefulfillment services provider, as described in more detail below.

In various embodiments, a fulfillment services management interface,such as fulfillment services management interface 904, may enable alisting customer (including individuals and/or merchants) to transitiontheir listing customer fulfilled items (e.g., items for which thecustomer is responsible for fulfillment, such as packaging and shipping)to items that are fulfilled by a fulfillment services provider, such asfulfillment service provider 700. In various embodiments, thefulfillment services management interface may be configured to detect asingle action, and, in response to only that single action beingperformed, perform one or more item related functions (e.g., generatingshipping information, modifying sales listings, etc.) as described inmore detail below. Such single actions may include, but are not limitedto, the depressing of a particular button or key, the selection of adisplay item with a pointing device (e.g., a computer mouse ortrackball), the speaking of a voice command (or other generation ofsound) by an individual, the clicking of a mouse button when a cursor ispositioned over a particular area of a display, or the selection of adisplayed indication. In various embodiments, the single action may beperformed by an individual or a merchant (or a representative of themerchant).

In various embodiments, the fulfillment services management interfacemay be configured to generate and present (e.g., via a web page or otherinterface) a user interface, such as a display, that enables a user toperform a single action, such as the single actions described above. Asdescribed above, the fulfillment services management interface may beconfigured to, in response to only such single action being performed,perform one or more item related functions as described in more detailbelow. FIG. 16 illustrates an example of such a user interface (e.g.,display 1000) generated by the fulfillment services managementinterface. In various embodiments, display 1000 may be a component of anaccount management interface (e.g., an account management website)provided by the fulfillment services provider. For example, a listingcustomer may log on to such a website to manage their item listings(e.g., modify quantities, prices, item descriptions, etc.). Display 1000may include a list of the customer's items for which the inventorymanagement system provides listing services, such as sales listings andcommerce support (e.g., the functionality provided by sales listingservices interface 708). One example of such a list is illustrated bylisted items 1020. Listed items 1020 may include any of the listingcustomer fulfilled items (e.g., items 1010A-1010N) associated with theparticular listing customer. In some embodiments, the fulfillmentservices management interface may automatically select which listingcustomer fulfilled items to display. For instance, the fulfillmentservices management interface may display all of the listing customerfulfilled items for a particular listing customer. In other cases, thefulfillment services management interface may select a subset of thelisting customer's listing customer fulfilled items. In some cases, suchsubset may be selected based on one or more item criteria (e.g., cost,size, condition, quantity available, etc.). In other embodiments, listeditems may be chosen or specified by the listing customer. For instance,in one embodiment, the listing customer may select a subset of hislisting customer fulfilled items. For example, the listing customer mayselect to include or remove items from listed items 1020 by selectinginclude control 1042 (e.g., to keep the respective item in listed items1020) or by selecting remove control 1044 (e.g., to remove therespective item from listed items 1020). In some embodiments, thelisting customer may filter out particular items based on itemproperties such as item information 1026, condition 1028, price 1032,quantity 1034, or some other property.

As described above, display 1000 may enable a listing customer toperform a single action and the fulfillment services managementinterface may be configured to, in response to only such single actionbeing performed, perform various action that may in some embodimentstransition the listing customer fulfilled items of listed items 1020into items that are fulfilled by a fulfillment services provider (e.g.,fulfillment services provider 700 of FIG. 7 and FIG. 15). In variousembodiments, transitioning the listing customer fulfilled items mayinclude transitioning all items for which the listing customer receiveslisting services. In other embodiments, transitioning the listingcustomer fulfilled items may include transitioning a subset of thelisting customer fulfilled items for which the listing customerfulfilled items. In some cases, such subset may be chosen by theinventory management system and/or the listing customer as describedabove. As illustrated by single action user interface element 1050,display 1000 may include one or more single action user interfaceelements that the listing customer may utilize to perform a singleaction. In the illustrated embodiment, the single action may include theselection of the single action user interface element 1050, such as theselection of single action user interface element 1050 with a pointingdevice (e.g., a mouse click). In another embodiment, the single actionmay include the depressing of a particular button or key thatcorresponds to single action user interface element 1050 (e.g.,selecting the “return” key of a keyboard or other input device). Inanother embodiment, the single action may include the speaking of avoice command (e.g., through an appropriate sound sensitive inputdevice, such as a microphone). In some embodiments, single action userinterface element 1050 may be a button or other control element thatoccupies a specific portion of display 1000 and the single action mayinclude placing a cursor of a pointing device (e.g., a mouse) over orwithin the specific portion.

In response to a only a single action being performed, such as thesingle actions described above, the fulfillment services managementinterface may be configured to perform one or more tasks, which may insome cases be related to transitioning listing customer fulfilled itemsinto items that are fulfilled by the fulfillment services provider. Suchtasks are described in more detail below in regard to FIG. 17.

In various embodiments, the user interface (e.g., display 1000) thatincludes a single action user interface element may be generated by, forexample, inventory management system 702 (or another system controlledby fulfillment services provider 700). However, in various otherembodiments, the user interface that includes the single action userinterface element may be generated by various entities other than thefulfillment services provider. For instance, in one embodiment, the userinterface may be generated by an e-commerce provider (other thanfulfillment services provider 700), such as a provider that enables amerchant to list one or more items (e.g., items 1010A-N) for saleelectronically (e.g., for sale over a network, such as the Internet).For instance, the e-commerce provider may enable one or more purchasingcustomers to purchase items 1010A-N via product web pages. In anotherexample, the user interface may be provided by an online auctionprovider (other than fulfillment services provider) that enables amerchant to list one or more items (e.g., items 1010A-N) for sale via anelectronic auction, such as an auction accessible via one or moreauction web pages where purchasing customers may place bids for purchaseon the items.

In various embodiments, the user interface (e.g., display 1000) may be acomponent of an account management interface, such as an accountmanagement interface of the aforementioned e-commerce provider or onlineauction provider. For instance, a merchant could log on to an accountmanagement interface provided by the e-commerce provider or onlineauction provider and transition their listed inventory (e.g., itemslisted for sale or for auction) to be fulfilled by fulfillment servicesprovider 700. Such transitioning may be performed by selecting thesingle action user interface element 1050 as described in more detailabove.

FIG. 17 illustrates a fulfillment services provider and inventorymanagement system that provides, via a fulfillment services managementinterface 904, inventory fulfillment services to listing customers whohave one or more listing customer fulfilled items on record withfulfillment services provider 700. Note that like numbered elements ofFIG. 17 and FIG. 7 (described above) may have substantially similar orin some cases the same functionality. In one embodiment, a listingcustomer 720 may access a fulfillment services management interface 904of inventory management system 702, for example by using a web browseron listing customer system 722. The listing customer 720 may havepreviously registered one or more accounts with the fulfillment servicesprovider 700 before accessing the fulfillment services managementinterface 904, and thus may have a unique customer account identifierand password (or other authentication information) with which to accessthe management interface.

A catalog of item descriptions corresponding to respective listingcustomer fulfilled items may be maintained by the inventory managementsystem 702 in database 706. The item descriptions of the listingcustomer fulfilled items maintained in database 706 may include theabove described listing customer fulfilled items. Note that database 706may include, but is not limited to, one or more databases, data stores,collections of files of various types, one or more catalogs of itemdescriptions, pricing information, or other rules, tables and lists, webpages and associated web page data, information, and graphics, textualand/or graphical files for display via various interfaces, historicalinformation such as historical sales information, or any other data andinformation that may be maintained and used by inventory managementsystem 702. In other words, database 706 may include and therefore isrepresentative of any and all data and information that may be used byinventory management system 702 as described herein. In variousembodiments, fulfillment services management interface 904 may use datafrom database 706 to generate one or more user interfaces, such asdisplay 1000 described above (or other items configured to enable acustomer to perform the above described single actions).

In various embodiments, fulfillment service management interface 904 maydetect the performance of a single action, such as single action 1700.For instance, fulfillment services management interface 904 may presentdisplay 1000 to listing customer 720 (via listing customer system 722)and detect that single action user interface element 1050 has beenselected, such as via a mouse click or any other of the above describedtechniques for performing a single action. Fulfillment servicemanagement interface 904 may then, in response to only single action1700 being performed, generate information for conveying one or morelisting customer fulfilled items to the fulfillment services provider.In some case, such information for conveying one or more listingcustomer fulfilled items to the fulfillment services provider mayinclude shipping information 710 for the listing customer 720. Asdescribed above, shipping information 710 may include a shipping list,or packing slip, that lists one or more possibly heterogeneous items1010 specified by the listing customer 720 to be sent to the fulfillmentservices provider 720, carried in inventory of the fulfillment servicesprovider (e.g., in materials handling facility 712), offered for sale,and sold to purchasing customer(s) 730 on behalf of the listing customer720. The shipping information 710 may also include one or more packagelabels that specify at least a ship from address (the address from whichthe listing customer 720 will ship a package 726 containing the item(s)1010) and a ship to address (the address of the facility to which thepackage 726 is to be shipped). The ship from address may beautomatically pulled from account information of the listing customer720, or alternatively the listing customer 720 may be allowed, via thefulfillment services management interface 904, to select from among twoor more ship from addresses and/or to enter a different ship fromaddress.

Inventory management system 702 may provide, in response to only singleaction 1700 being performed, the shipping information 710 to the listingcustomer 720 via the fulfillment services management interface 904. Asdescribed above, the shipping information 710 may, for example, beelectronically transmitted to the listing customer 720 in printableform. For example, the shipping information 710 may be provided to thelisting customer 720 on a printable web page, via an email message asmessage text or as an attachment, or via some other electroniccommunications channel. Alternatively, shipping information 710 may bemailed to the listing customer 720. In one embodiment, either one orboth of the packing slip and package label may include scannable orotherwise readable information that may be used by the carrier ordelivery service and/or by the fulfillment services provider 700 uponreceiving the package. In one embodiment, shipping information 710provided to listing customer 720 may also include information on one ormore carriers or delivery services, for example street addresses,drop-off locations, phone numbers, and/or schedules, that are availablenear the listing customer 720's address to deliver shipments to the shipto address specified by the fulfillment services provider 700. Thepacking slip and each item 1010 may then be placed by the listingcustomer 720 into a package 726, the packing label may be applied to theoutside of the package 726, and the package 726 may be shipped to afacility of the fulfillment services provider 700 as specified by thepackage label, such as materials handling facility 712, which may, forexample, be an order fulfillment center. Package 726 may be any of avariety of shapes, sizes, and configurations of boxes, envelopes, orother types of containers appropriate for packing and shipping theitem(s) 1010 of the listing customer 720 to the fulfillment servicesprovider.

In various embodiments, database 706 (or another database accessible toinventory management system 702) may include data or information aboutitems managed by the inventory management system (e.g., items 724)and/or items to be managed by the inventory management system (e.g.,items 1010). Such information may in various embodiments includehistorical pricing information. For instance, as sales listing servicesinterface 708 generates purchase orders for purchased items, database706 may generate a record that indicates the price at which the item wassold. As multiple ones of the same items are sold over time, database706 may record each price at which the items were sold. In other cases,database 706 may obtain historical pricing information for particularitems from other sources, such as a marketing agency. Database 706 mayalso include data or information with respect to item characteristics.Such characteristics may include but are not limited to item dimensions(with or without appropriate packaging), such as length, width, weight,etc. The characteristics may also include other information, such asinformation related to suggesting handling practices for a particularitem (e.g., suitable storage temperatures, a measure of how fragile anitem is, or a suggested orientation for the item).

Inventory management system 702 may in various embodiments use the datastored in database 706 to generate and/or provide, in response to only asingle action being performed (e.g., listing customer selecting singleaction user interface element 1050), pricing recommendations. Suchpricing recommendation may be provided to listing customers tofacilitate pricing of their items. In other cases, inventory managementsystem 702 may, in response to only a single action being performed(e.g., listing customer selecting single action user interface element1050), automatically set prices for each of the listing customers items(e.g., items 1010). In various embodiments, the inventory managementsystem may be configured to apply, in response to only a single actionbeing performed (e.g., listing customer selecting single action userinterface element 1050), one or more rules to the data of database 706to determine a pricing recommendation for a particular item. Forexample, one rule may specify that the average historical price at whichthe particular item has been sold should be the suggested price. Otherrules may specify other criteria, such as the minimum or maximum priceat which the particular item has sold for a particular time period. Insome embodiments, other criteria may include the date or time of year atwhich an item is to be sold. For example, for seasonal items (e.g.,winter coats, bathing suits, etc.), the inventory management system maygenerate different prices dependent upon the date or time of year atwhich the items are to be sold.

In various embodiments, fulfillment services management interface may beconfigured to, in response to only single action 1700 being performed,generate and/or provide listing customer 720 with packagingrecommendations based on item characteristics (e.g., itemcharacteristics stored in database 706). For instance, for a collectionof items, such as items 1010, the fulfillment services managementinterface may be configured to, in response to only single action 1700being performed, generate and/or provide listing customer 720 with anindication of the dimensions of shipping containers (e.g., dimensions ofone or more packages 726) and the specific contents (e.g., items,packing slips, etc.) that should be packed in such shipping containers.Such packing recommendations may in some embodiments be optimized tominimize shipping costs between the listing customer and the fulfillmentservices provider. In other embodiments, such recommendations may beoptimized to simplify handling logistics for the fulfillment servicesprovider. For instance, items may be grouped among different shippingcontainers based on their intended location within a materials handlingfacility, such as materials handling facility 712.

In various embodiments, the inventory management system may beconfigured to, in response to only single action 1700 being performed,generate and/or provide the customer with a packaging kit with shippingcontainers (e.g., boxes) that adhere to the above described recommendedshipping container dimensions. In some cases, such packaging kit mayinclude pre-labeled shipping containers that include any of the variousshipping labels described herein. In some cases, the packaging kit mayinclude instructions for packaging particular items within such shippingcontainers (e.g., instructions that indicate, for a particular shippingcontainer, which items should be placed within such shipping container).In various embodiments, the inventory management system may determinethe appropriate shipping containers (e.g., dimensions of such shippingcontainers) for the packaging kit by analyzing item characteristicsstored in database 706. For instance, the inventory management systemmay, in response to only single action 1700 being performed, analyzecharacteristic (e.g., length, width, weight, etc.) to determine anappropriate shipping container (e.g., a shipping container of aparticular size or rated for a particular weight). In some cases, theinventory management system may, in response to only single action 1700being performed, determine how much protective packing material shouldbe used for a particular item (e.g., fragile items may require moreprotective packing materials than items that are not fragile).

The items 1010 listed by the listing customer 720 may be entered intoand tracked by inventory management system 720 as a pending incomingshipment from the listing customer 720. The shipment may be tracked bythe scannable or otherwise readable information printed on the packagelabel(s). Any of a variety of carriers or delivery services may be usedto ship package 726 to a facility of the fulfillment services provider700 as specified by the package label as long as package 726 meets theshipping criteria (e.g., weight limit, size limit, content restrictions,etc.) of the carrier or delivery service and the carrier or deliveryservice provides delivery from the shipping address to the destinationaddress specified on the packing label of the package 726. For example,the postal service or a package delivery service such as UPS may be usedto ship package 726 if package 726 meets the criteria for allowablepackages. The listing customer 720 may deliver the package to a facilityof the carrier or delivery service, may have the package 726 picked upand delivered to a facility of the carrier or delivery service, e.g. bya courier service, or alternatively the carrier or delivery service maypick the package 726 up from the listing customer 720. In oneembodiment, the inventory management system 702 may be configured to, inresponse to only single action 1700 being performed, notify the carrieror delivery service that the listing customer 720 has a package 726 tobe picked up, and may also, in response to only single action 1700 beingperformed, notify the listing customer 720 of a pickup time at which thecarrier or delivery service is going to pick up the package 726.

The package(s) 726 including the items 1010 listed by the customer maybe delivered by the carrier or delivery service to a facility of thefulfillment services provider 700 as specified by a ship to address onthe package label, for example to the exemplary materials handlingfacility 712 shown in FIG. 7. Inventory management system 702 mayinclude interfaces to the facility (e.g., to materials handling facility712) for directing operators in the facility in receiving incomingshipments and stocking received items to inventory storage in thefacility, and for directing operators in picking, processing packing andshipping items to fulfill requests (e.g., purchase orders) received frompurchasing customers 730, for example via sales listing servicesinterface 708. As noted above, the items 1010 listed by the listingcustomer 720 may be entered into and tracked by inventory managementsystem 720 as a pending incoming shipment from the listing customer 720.The shipment may be tracked by the scannable or otherwise readableinformation printed on the package label(s). Once the package 726arrives at a receiving operation of the facility 712, the package labelon the package may be scanned, which identifies to the inventorymanagement system 702 that the shipment from the listing customer 720has arrived.

In one embodiment, at the facility 712, the package 726 may be opened,and the packing slip may be removed. The packing slip may includescannable or otherwise readable information about the shipment. Forexample, the packing slip may include a bar code that may be scanned toobtain information about the shipment. Alternatively, or in addition,the packing slip may include a list of items and quantities of itemsincluded in the shipment. An operator may scan or otherwise read theinformation from the packing slip. The scanned or read information maybe communicated to inventory management system 702, which may verifythat the package 726 includes all of the items 1010 listed by thecustomer 720. In one embodiment, the operator may be instructed to printand apply materials handling facility item labels over existing barcodesor other marks on the received items 1010, or alternatively theinventory management system 702 may automatically print the item labelsfor application by the operator. In one embodiment, since the items 1010are not regular inventory items but are instead items received forhandling by the inventory fulfillment services, the shipment of items1010 may be received under a special purchase order type. In variousembodiments, the inventory management system 702 may provideinstructions as to the disposition of the items 1010 contained in theassociated package 726 in the facility, such as described above inregard to FIG. 7.

Materials handling facility 712 may in various embodiments store and/orhandle inventory for a variety of listing customers or merchants. Forinstance, in some embodiments, materials handling facility is owned orunder the control of a merchant (e.g., merchant 40 d described above)who also owns or controls the inventory management system. In someembodiments, such merchant may have additional inventory management andmaterials handling capacity and may therefore provide such services toother merchants, such as listing customer 720, for a fee. In someembodiments, the materials handling facility may integrate itemsselected via the fulfillment services management interface (e.g., items1010) into the materials handling facility. In various embodiments, thematerials handling facility may handle these items in the same manner asother items from other merchants whether such items are items receivedfrom other listing customers or a merchant than owns or controls thematerial handling facility. For example, in response to only a singleaction being performed (e.g., listing customer 720 selecting singleaction user interface element 1050), the inventory management system 702may generate and provide instructions as to the disposition of items1010 within the facility. For example, the inventory management system702 may, in response to only a single action being performed (e.g.,listing customer 720 selecting single action user interface element1050), generate and/or provide instructions that direct the operator orsome other operator to put or place each item into a particularlocation, bin, slot, or other receptacle in inventory storage of thefacility. In one embodiment, the facility may have an area or areas ininventory storage that are specifically for stocking items 101 receivedin packages 726 from listing customers 720 via customer interactionswith fulfillment services management interface 904 as described above.As described in more detail below, materials handling facility 712 maybe configured to ship items 1010, as well as other inventory handled bythe materials handling facility (e.g., inventory of other listingcustomers or merchants) in response to receiving a purchase order fromthe inventory management system.

In various embodiments, fulfillment service provider 700 may (viamaterials handling facility 712) provide one more promotional or specialhandling services for items that are sold by and fulfilled by thefulfillment services provider. Accordingly, for items 1010 the handlingfacility 712 may include such items as available for such promotional orspecial handling services even though the fulfillment services provideris not the seller of record for such items. In some embodiments,promotional services may include providing discounted shipping chargesfor shipping such items to customers (e.g., purchasing customer 730).For instance, in some cases, discounted shipping charges may be providedfor items that are part of an order that has a total price above acertain price threshold (e.g., a discount shipping price threshold). Forexample, discounted shipping may be provided for items of orders havinga total cost of more than a threshold amount. In some embodiments,special handling services may include handling services provided by thefulfillment services provider for customers (e.g., purchasing customer730) of items fulfilled by the fulfillment services provider. Forinstance, the materials handling facility may include optional servicessuch as gift wrapping of the items or expedited processing of the items(e.g., expediting the process of preparing items and providing items toa shipping carrier). In various embodiments, the inventory managementsystem may modify sales listings (described in more detail below) toreflect the availability of promotional or special handling services.For instance, the method may include modifying a product web page toprovide a customer (e.g., purchasing customer 730) with an option toselect the above described promotional or special handling services.

In various embodiments, the inventory management system may enable apurchasing customer (e.g., purchasing customer 730) to purchase groupsof items that are fulfilled by the fulfillment services providerirrespective of the seller of record for such items. For instance, anorder purchased by the purchasing customer might include items for whichthe fulfillment services provider is the seller of record and items forwhich the listing customer is the seller of record. For such orders, thefulfillment services provider may enable the purchasing customer to takeadvantage of the above-described promotional or special handlingservices even though items of such orders have various sellers ofrecord.

In various embodiments, sales listings for items provided by listingcustomer(s) 720 may be provided via one or more electronic commercechannels, which may or may not be provided by the fulfillment servicesprovider 700. By way of example, access via a sales listing servicesinterface 708 to an electronic commerce channel provided by thefulfillment services provider 700 is described, but it is to be notedthat this example is not intended to be limiting, and that otherelectronic commerce channels may be used to list items from listingcustomers 720 for purchase by purchasing customers 730. In variousembodiments, such sales listing may be defined by data within database706. For instance, a sales listing may include data defining one or moreweb pages that offer one or more of items 1010 for sale. As listingcustomer fulfilled items are transitioned to items that are fulfilled byinventory management system 702 (e.g., as indicated by single action1700), such sales listing may be updated or modified to indicate achange in fulfillment provider. For instance, before a listing customerfulfilled item is conveyed to the fulfillment services provider, a saleslisting for such item may indicate that the respective listing customeris tasked with fulfilling any orders for such items (e.g., the listingmay indicate “this item is packaged and shipped by listing customerABC”). The inventory management system 702 may be configure to, inresponse to only single action 1700 being performed, generate for eachof such items updated or modified sales listing that indicate adifferent entity (e.g., fulfillment services provider 700 or anotherentity other than the listing customer) is tasked with fulfilling ordersfor such items (e.g., the listing may indicate “this item is packagedand shipped by fulfillment provider XYZ”). In some embodiments, updatingor modifying a sales listing may include changing one or more dataobjects that define such sales listing. In other embodiments, theinventory management system may be configured to, in response to onlysingle action 1700 being performed, generate new sales listings based oncorresponding existing sales listings. Such new sales listings may, forexample, indicate that a different entity (e.g., fulfillment servicesprovider 700 or another entity other than the listing customer) istasked with fulfilling orders for such items (e.g., the listing mayindicate “this item is packaged and shipped by fulfillment providerXYZ”).

In one embodiment, a purchasing customer 730 may access a sales listingservices interface 708 to inventory management system 702, for exampleusing a web browser on purchasing customer system 732. Alternatively,the purchasing customer may access inventory management system 702 via adifferent electronic commerce channel, for example an electroniccommerce web site that accesses inventory management system 702 via aweb services interface. In one embodiment, the purchasing customer 730may be required to register for an account with the fulfillment servicesprovider 700 before accessing the sales listing services interface 708.The purchasing customer 730 may, for example via the sales listingservices interface 708, browse various items in various categoriesoffered for sale by the fulfillment services provider 700. Itemspresented to the purchasing customer 730 for sale may include one ormore items 1010 which were listed by listing customer 720 and shipped toa facility of the fulfillment services provider 700, as described above.Information on an item 1010 from database 706 may be displayed to thepurchasing customer 730 via sales listing services interface 708. Thisdisplayed information may include graphical and/or textual information.For example, a graphical image of the item 1010 may be displayed, alongwith a title, artist or writer (if applicable), item description, andpricing information. Specifically, the sale price specified by thelisting customer 720 may be displayed with the associated item 1010.Information on one or more other items, including one or more other sameor similar items offered for sale by the fulfillment services provider700, by other listing customers 730, or by other entities such as one ofthe merchants described above in reference to FIGS. 1 through 6, may bedisplayed via the sales listing services interface 708. In variousembodiments, inventory management system 702 may be configured to, inresponse to only single action 1700 being performed, provide saleslisting services interface with updated, modified, and/or newinformation (e.g., the updated, modified, or new sales listing describedabove) that indicates a change in fulfillment provider for one or moreitems. Furthermore, the purchasing customer 730 may select for purchase,for example via the sales listing services interface 708, a particularitem from the list of one or more items displayed. Such item may befulfilled according to the techniques described above with respect toFIG. 7 and sent to purchasing customer 730 as shipment 734.

In one embodiment, the inventory management system 702 may be configuredto, in response to only single action 1700 being performed, generateand/or provide a web page or pages specific to the listing customer 720whereby the listing customer 720 can log on (with appropriateidentification and password information) and/or check the status ofshipped packages 726, the status of listed items 1010 in inventory, thestatus of sales of the listed items 1010, and so on. The inventorymanagement system 702 may also provide, via the customer 720's web pageor pages, the ability for the customer 720 to modify information onlisted items(s) 1010, for example the ability for the customer toincrease or decrease the requested sale price of listed item(s) 1010 andto change the description of listed item(s) 1010.

In various embodiments, the user interface (e.g., display 1000) thatincludes a single action user interface element may be generated by, forexample, inventory management system 702 (or another system controlledby fulfillment services provider 700). However, in various otherembodiments, the user interface that includes the single action userinterface element may be generated by various entities other than thefulfillment services provider. For instance, in one embodiment, the userinterface may be generated by an e-commerce provider (other thanfulfillment services provider 700), such as a provider that enables amerchant to list one or more items (e.g., items 1010A-N) for saleelectronically (e.g., for sale over a network, such as the Internet).For instance, the e-commerce provider may enable one or more purchasingcustomers to purchase items 1010A-N via product web pages. In anotherexample, the user interface may be provided by an online auctionprovider (other than fulfillment services provider) that enables amerchant to list one or more items (e.g., items 1010A-N) for sale via anelectronic auction, such as an auction accessible via one or moreauction web pages where purchasing customers may place bids for purchaseon the items.

In various embodiments, the user interface (e.g., display 1000) may be acomponent of an account management interface, such as an accountmanagement interface of the aforementioned e-commerce provider or onlineauction provider. For instance, a merchant could log on to an accountmanagement interface provided by the e-commerce provider or onlineauction provider and transition their listed inventory (e.g., itemslisted for sale or for auction) to be fulfilled by fulfillment servicesprovider 700. Such transitioning may be performed by selecting thesingle action user interface element 1050 as described in more detailabove. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the fulfillment servicesprovider may receive an indication of single action 1700 from systemsother than listing customer's system 722, such as a system owned orcontrolled by the above described e-commerce provider or online auctionprovider.

FIG. 18. illustrates a flowchart of a method for transitioning listingcustomer fulfilled items into items that are fulfilled by thefulfillment services provider. In various embodiments, the methoddescribed herein may be implemented by an inventory management system,such as inventory management system 702. As illustrated by step 1148,the method may include generating a user interface that provides anindication of one or more items listed for sale by a merchant (e.g.,listing customer 720). The items listed for sale by the merchant may beitems for which fulfillment services are not provided by a fulfillmentservices provider (e.g., fulfillment services provider 720). Forexample, the items may be items for which the merchant receives listingservices (e.g., the listing services provided sales listing servicesinterface 708 while retaining responsibility for fulfilling (e.g.,packaging and shipping) such items. The user interface may provide asingle action user interface element for the merchant to register theone or more items for fulfillment by the fulfillment services provider(e.g., fulfillment services provider 720). Examples of the userinterface and the single action user interface element include display1000 and single action user interface element 1050, respectively.

The method may further include performing one or more actions inresponse receiving an indication of the activation of the single actionuser interface element. Activation of the single action user interfaceelement may include the selection of the single action user interfaceelement, such as the selection of the single action user interfaceelement with a pointing device (e.g., a mouse click). In anotherembodiment, the activation of the single action user interface elementmay include the depressing of a particular button or key thatcorresponds to the single action user interface element (e.g., selectingthe “return” key of a keyboard or other input device). In anotherembodiment, the activation of the single action user interface elementmay include the speaking of a voice command (e.g., through anappropriate sound sensitive input device, such as a microphone). In someembodiments, the single action user interface element may be a button orother control element that occupies a specific portion of the displayand the single action may include placing a cursor of a pointing device(e.g., a mouse) over or within the specific portion. In response toreceiving the indication of the activation of the single action userinterface element, the method may include registering the one or moreitems for fulfillment by the fulfillment services provider, asillustrated by step 1150.

As illustrated by step 1152, such registering may include providing tothe merchant information for conveying units of the items to thefulfillment services provider. In some case, such information forconveying one or more listing customer fulfilled items to thefulfillment services provider may include shipping information for theitems. As described above, shipping information may include a shippinglist, or packing slip, that lists one or more possibly heterogeneousitems specified by the merchant to be sent to the fulfillment servicesprovider, carried in inventory of the fulfillment services provider(e.g., in materials handling facility 712), offered for sale, and soldto purchasing customer (e.g., purchasing customer 730) on behalf of themerchant. The shipping information may also include one or more packagelabels that specify at least a ship from address (the address from whichthe merchant will ship a package containing the item) and a ship toaddress (the address of the facility to which the package is to beshipped). The ship from address may be automatically pulled from accountinformation of the listing customer, or alternatively the listingcustomer may be allowed, to select from among two or more ship fromaddresses and/or to enter a different ship from address. The method mayinclude electronically transmitting the shipping information to themerchant in printable form. For example, the shipping information may beprovided to the merchant on a printable web page, via an email messageas message text or as an attachment, or via some other electroniccommunications channel. Alternatively, the shipping information may bemailed to the merchant. In one embodiment, either one or both of thepacking slip and package label may include scannable or otherwisereadable information that may be used by the carrier or delivery serviceand/or by the fulfillment services provider upon receiving the package.In one embodiment, shipping information provided to merchant may alsoinclude information on one or more carriers or delivery services, forexample street addresses, drop-off locations, phone numbers, and/orschedules, that are available near the merchant's address to delivershipments to the ship to address specified by the fulfillment servicesprovider.

In various embodiments, providing the merchant with information forconveying units of the one or more items to the fulfillment servicesprovider may include generating and/or providing the merchant withpackaging recommendations based on item characteristics (e.g., itemcharacteristics stored in database 706). For instance, for a collectionof items, the method may include generating and/or providing themerchant with an indication of the dimensions of shipping containers(e.g., dimensions of one or more packages 726) and the specific contents(e.g., items, packing slips, etc.) that should be packed in suchshipping containers. The method may in some embodiment includeoptimizing such packing recommendations to minimize shipping costsbetween the merchant and the fulfillment services provider. In otherembodiments, such recommendations may be optimized to simplify handlinglogistics for the fulfillment services provider. For instance, items maybe grouped among different shipping containers based on their intendedlocation within a materials handling facility, such as materialshandling facility 712.

In various embodiments, the method may include generating and/orproviding the merchant with a packaging kit with shipping containers(e.g., boxes) that adhere to the above described recommended shippingcontainer dimensions. In some cases, such packaging kit may includepre-labeled shipping containers that include any of the various shippinglabels described herein. In some cases, the packaging kit may includeinstructions for packaging particular items within such shippingcontainers (e.g., instructions that indicate, for a particular shippingcontainer, which items should be placed within such shipping container).The method may include determining the appropriate shipping containers(e.g., dimensions of such shipping containers) for the packaging kit byanalyzing item characteristics stored in database 706. For instance, themethod may include analyzing item characteristics (e.g., length, width,weight, etc.) to determine an appropriate shipping container (e.g., ashipping container of a particular size or rated for a particularweight). In some cases, the method may include determining how muchprotective packing material should be used for a particular item (e.g.,fragile items may require more protective packing materials than itemsthat are not fragile) and providing such information to the merchant(e.g., as part of the packaging kit).

As illustrated by step 1154, registering the or more items forfulfillment by the fulfillment services provider may include modifyingone or more sales listings (e.g., sales listing provided by saleslistings services interface 708) such that the sales listing indicatethat orders for the one or more items are to be fulfilled by thefulfillment services provider. For instance, before the item(s) areconveyed to the fulfillment services provider, a sales listing for suchitems may indicate that the respective merchant (e.g., listing customer720) is tasked with fulfilling any orders for such items (e.g., thelisting may indicate “this item is packaged and shipped by listingcustomer ABC”). Accordingly the method may include generating for eachof such items updated or modified sales listing that indicate adifferent entity (e.g., fulfillment services provider 700 or anotherentity other than the listing customer) is tasked with fulfilling ordersfor such items (e.g., the listing may indicate “this item is packagedand shipped by fulfillment provider XYZ”). In some embodiments, updatingor modifying a sales listing may include changing one or more dataobjects that define such sales listing (e.g., data of database 706). Inother embodiments, the method may include generating new sales listingsbased on corresponding existing sales listings. Similarly, such newsales listings may, for example, indicate that a different entity (e.g.,fulfillment services provider 700 or another entity other than thelisting customer) is tasked with fulfilling orders for such items (e.g.,the listing may indicate “this item is packaged and shipped byfulfillment provider XYZ”). In various embodiments, registering the oneor more items for fulfillment by the fulfillment services provider mayinclude generating pricing recommendations, such as the various pricingrecommendation described above, and modifying respective sales listingto include one or more recommended prices.

As illustrated by step 1156, registering the one or more items forfulfillment by the fulfillment services provider may include includingthe items as available for one or more promotional or special handlingservices offered for other items for which orders are fulfilled by thefulfillment services provider. For instance, in various embodiments, thefulfillment service provider (e.g., fulfillment service provider 700)may provide one more promotional or special handling services for itemsthat are sold by and fulfilled by the fulfillment services provider.Accordingly, for the item(s) indicated by the user interface (asdescribed in step 1148) the method may in some cases include includingsuch items as available for such promotional or special handlingservices even though the fulfillment services provider is not the sellerof record for such items. In some embodiments, promotional services mayinclude providing discounted shipping charges for shipping such items tocustomers (e.g., purchasing customer 730). For instance, in some cases,discounted shipping charges may be provided for items that are part ofan order that has a total price above a certain price threshold (e.g., adiscount shipping price threshold). For example, discounted shipping maybe provided for items of orders having a total cost of more than $25. Insome embodiments, special handling services may include handlingservices provided by the fulfillment services provider for customers(e.g., purchasing customer 730) of items fulfilled by the fulfillmentservices provider. For instance, the fulfillment service provider mayinclude optional services such as gift wrapping of the items orexpedited processing of the items (e.g., expediting the process ofpreparing items and providing items to a shipping carrier). In variousembodiments, the method may include modifying sales listings (e.g., asin step 1154) to reflect the availability of promotional or specialhandling services. For instance, the method may include modifying aproduct web page to provide a customer (e.g., purchasing customer 730)with an option to select the above described promotional or specialhandling services.

Exemplary Computer System Embodiment

It is contemplated that in some embodiments, any of the methods ortechniques described above may be implemented as program instructionsand data capable of being stored or conveyed via a computer-accessiblemedium. Such methods or techniques may include, for example and withoutlimitation, the functions of inventory management system 30, interface200 and/or database 210, as well as the methods illustrated in FIGS. 3and 4 or any suitable variations or portions thereof. Such methods ortechniques may include, for example and without limitation, thefunctions of inventory management system 702, interfaces 704, 904 and708 and/or database 706 illustrated in FIG. 7, as well as the methodillustrated in FIG. 8, FIG. 18 or any suitable variations or portionsthereof, Such program instructions may also be executed to performcomputational functions in support of the methods and techniquesdescribed above, for example to instantiate operating systemfunctionality, application functionality, and/or any other suitablefunctions.

One exemplary embodiment of a computer system includingcomputer-accessible media is illustrated in FIG. 19. In the illustratedembodiment, computer system 900 includes one or more processors 910coupled to a system memory 920 via an input/output (I/O) interface 930.Computer system 900 further includes a network interface 940 coupled toI/O interface 930. In some embodiments, it is contemplated thatinventory management system 50 and/or inventory management system 702may be implemented using a single instance of computer system 900, whilein other embodiments multiple such systems may be configured to hostdifferent portions or instances of inventory management system 50 and/orinventory management system 702. For example, in one embodiment somedata sources or services (e.g., purchasing management services) may beimplemented via instances of computer system 900 that are distinct fromthose instances implementing other data sources or services (e.g., orderentry/fulfillment services). It is noted that in some embodiments, thefunctions of inventory management system 50 and/or inventory managementsystem 702 as variously described hereinabove may be partitioned in anysuitable fashion into a number of distinct modules, procedures or otherfunctional portions. The resulting portions of inventory managementsystem 50 and/or inventory management system 702 may then be implementedas a unified or distributed system among one or several instances ofcomputer system 900, for example as instructions executable by one ormore of processors 910.

In various embodiments computer system 900 may be a uniprocessor systemincluding one processor 910, or a multiprocessor system includingseveral processors 910 (e.g., two, four, eight, or another suitablenumber). Processors 910 may be any suitable processor capable ofexecuting instructions. For example, in various embodiments processors910 may be a general-purpose or embedded processor implementing any of avariety of instruction set architectures (ISAs), such as the x86,PowerPC, SPARC, or MIPS ISAs, or any other suitable ISA. Inmultiprocessor systems, each of processors 910 may commonly, but notnecessarily, implement the same ISA.

System memory 920 may be configured to store instructions and dataaccessible by process 910. In various embodiments, system memory 920 maybe implemented using any suitable memory technology, such as staticrandom access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM),nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, or any other type of memory. In theillustrated embodiment, program instructions and data implementingdesired functions, such as those described above, are shown storedwithin system memory 920 as code 925.

In one embodiment, I/O interface 930 may be configured to coordinate I/Otraffic between processor 910, system memory 920, and any peripheraldevices in the device, including network interface 940 or otherperipheral interfaces. In some embodiments, I/O interface 930 mayperform any necessary protocol, timing or other data transformations toconvert data signals from one component (e.g., system memory 920) into aformat suitable for use by another component (e.g., processor 910). Insome embodiments, I/O interface 930 may include support for devicesattached through various types of peripheral buses, such as a variant ofthe Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard or theUniversal Serial Bus (USB) standard, for example. In some embodiments,the function of I/O interface 930 may be split into two or more separatecomponents, such as a north bridge and a south bridge, for example.Also, in some embodiments some or all of the functionality of I/Ointerface 930, such as an interface to system memory 920, may beincorporated directly into processor 910.

Network interface 940 may be configured to allow data to be exchangedbetween computer system 900 and other devices attached to a network,such as other computer systems, for example. In various embodiments,network interface 940 may support communication via wired or wirelessgeneral data networks, such as any suitable type of Ethernet network,for example; via telecommunications/telephony networks such as analogvoice networks or digital fiber communications networks; via storagearea networks such as Fibre Channel SANs, or via any other suitable typeof network and/or protocol.

In some embodiments, system memory 920 may be one embodiment of acomputer-accessible medium configured to store program instructions anddata as described above. However, in other embodiments, programinstructions and/or data may be received, sent or stored upon differenttypes of computer-accessible media. Generally speaking, acomputer-accessible medium may include storage media or memory mediasuch as magnetic or optical media, e.g., disk or CD/DVD-ROM coupled tocomputer system 900 via I/O interface 930. A computer-accessible mediummay also include any volatile or non-volatile media such as RAM (e.g.SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM, SRAM, etc.), ROM, etc, that may be included insome embodiments of computer system 900 as system memory 920 or anothertype of memory. Program instructions and data stored via acomputer-accessible medium may be transmitted by transmission media orsignals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals, whichmay be conveyed via a communication medium such as a network and/or awireless link, such as may be implemented via network interface 940.

Additionally, it is contemplated that any of the methods or techniquesdescribed above and illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 3 and 4, and inFIGS. 7, 8 and 18, may be implemented as a web service that may beperformed on behalf of clients requesting such a service. Generallyspeaking, providing a function or service as a web service may encompassproviding any of a variety of standardized APIs configured to allowdifferent software programs to communicate (e.g., to request servicesand respond to such requests) in an autonomous, web-based and typicallyplatform-independent manner. For example, an enterprise may choose toexpose certain enterprise data (e.g., catalog data, inventory data,customer data or other types of data) and/or certain enterprisefunctions (e.g., fulfillment service request processing functions, queryfunctions, electronic commerce functions, generic data storage orcomputational functions, etc.) to external clients (e.g., merchants 40or customers 50) via a web services interface. Applications could thenaccess the exposed data and/or functions via the web services interface,even though the accessing application may be configured to execute on anentirely different platform (e.g., a different operating system orsystem architecture) than the platform hosting the exposed data orfunctions. For example, a merchant 40 may perform self-serviceregistration of an item 35 for fulfillment services, or may informfulfillment center 10 of an order to be fulfilled, through web servicescalls exposed by interface 200.

In some embodiments, provisioning a web service may encompass the use ofparticular protocols which may be executable (e.g., as part of code 925)to publish available web services to potential users, to describe theinterfaces of web services sufficiently to allow users to invoke webservices properly, to allow users to select and differentiate among webservices for a particular transaction, and to provide a format forexchanging web services data in a flexible and platform-independentmanner. Specifically, in one embodiment a provider of a web service mayregister the service using a version of the Universal DiscoveryDescription and Integration (UDDI) protocol, which may function as ageneral directory through which potential resource users may locate webservices of interest. The web service provider may also publish specificdetails regarding how a well-formed web services request from a usershould be formatted (e.g., what specific parameters are required orallowed, the data type or format to be used for a given parameter,etc.). For example, such interface details may be published (e.g.,within a UDDI directory entry) using a version of the Web ServicesDescription Language (WSDL).

In many embodiments, web services request and response data is exchangedbetween a client and the service provider through the use of messages ordocuments formatted as platform-independent structured data, such as adocument formatted in compliance with a version of eXtensible MarkupLanguage (XML). For example, in one embodiment a web services request toprovide inventory health information for a given inventory item may beembodied in an XML document including fields identifying the item ofinterest, the type of data requested (e.g., inventory health data), andpossibly other fields, in which each field is delimited by an XML tagdescribing the type of data the field represents. The response to such arequest from the web service provider may include an XML documentcontaining the requested data. In some embodiments, web services-relateddocuments may be transmitted between applications making requests andtargeted web services using a web-based data transfer protocol, such asa version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), for example.

Different types of web services requests and responses may yield XMLdocuments that bear little content in common, which may complicate thehandling and interpretation of such documents. For example, in differentversions of a free-form XML document specifying a web services request,the actual web service that is requested may appear at different placeswithin different document versions, which may require a recipient of thedocument to buffer or parse a good deal of document data beforeunderstanding what the document is for. Consequently, in someembodiments, the XML documents containing web services request/responsedata may encapsulated within additional XML data used to define amessaging framework, e.g., a generic format for exchanging documents ormessages having arbitrary content. For example, in one embodiment webservices requests or responses may be XML documents formatted accordingto a version of the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), which invarious versions may define distinct document sections such as an“envelope” (e.g., which may include a specification of the documenttype, the intended recipient web service, etc.) as well as a messagebody that may include arbitrary XML message data (e.g., the particulardetails of the web services request). However, in some embodiments, webservices may be implemented using different protocols and standards forpublishing services and formatting and exchanging messages.

Additionally, in some embodiments, a web services system may beimplemented without using document-based techniques such as SOAP-typeprotocols. For example, as an alternative to a document-based approach,a web service may be implemented using a Representational State Transfer(REST)-type architecture. Generally speaking, in REST-typearchitectures, web services requests may be formed as commands conveyedvia a transport protocol, such as PUT or GET commands conveyed via aversion of the HTTP protocol. Those parameters of the request that mightbe embedded within a document in a document-based web servicesarchitecture may instead be included as command parameters in aREST-type architecture. Other suitable configurations of web servicesarchitectures are possible and contemplated.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a memory storing programinstructions; and one or more processors coupled to said memory, whereinsaid program instructions are executable by at least one of said one ormore processors to implement an inventory management system for afulfillment services provider, wherein said inventory management systemis configured to: determine identification information for a merchant;based on the identification information for the merchant, access, froman e-commerce provider of an e-commerce channel listing one or moreitems for sale for the merchant, listing information for the one or morelisted items that are already listed for sale by the merchant with thee-commerce provider through the e-commerce channel; generate, based onthe stored listing information, a user interface providing an indicationof the one or more listed items that are already listed for sale by themerchant with the e-commerce provider through the e-commerce channel,wherein order fulfillment services for the one or more listed items arenot currently provided by said fulfillment services provider and areinstead provided by the merchant, wherein the user interface provides asingle action user interface element for the merchant to register theone or more listed items for order fulfillment services provided by saidfulfillment services provider instead of the order fulfillment servicesprovided by the merchant, and wherein the single action user interfaceelement corresponds to the one or more listed items accessed based onthe identification information for the merchant; and in response toreceiving an indication of activation of the single action userinterface element, register the one or more listed items for orderfulfillment services provided by said fulfillment services provider totransition order fulfillment responsibility for the one or more listeditems from the merchant to said fulfillment services provider, whereinregistering the one or more listed items for order fulfillment servicesprovided by said fulfillment services provider includes one or more of:providing to said merchant information or items for conveying units ofthe one or more listed items to said fulfillment services provider,modifying one or more sales listings for the one or more listed items toindicate that orders for the one or more listed items are fulfilled bysaid fulfillment services provider, or including the one or more listeditems as available for one or more promotional or special handlingservices offered for other items for which orders are fulfilled by saidfulfillment services provider.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein saidregistering includes said providing to said merchant the information oritems for conveying units of the one or more listed items to saidfulfillment services provider, wherein providing information or itemsfor conveying units of the one or more listed items comprises providingshipping information comprising one or more of: a shipping list, apacking slip, and a shipping label for said one or more listed items. 3.The system of claim 1, wherein said registering includes said providingto said merchant the information or items for conveying units of the oneor more listed items to said fulfillment services provider, whereinproviding information or items for conveying units of the one or morelisted items comprises providing to said merchant a packaging kitcomprising shipping containers and instructions for packing particularones of said one or more listed items within particular ones of saidshipping containers.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein said registeringincludes said modifying the one or more sales listings for the one ormore listed items, wherein said modifying further comprises modifyingsaid one or more sales listings such that the one or more sales listingindicate that one or more of said promotional or special handlingservices are available for said one or more listed items.
 5. The systemof claim 1, wherein said registering comprises including the one or morelisted items as available for said one or more promotional or specialhandling services, wherein said including comprises including the one ormore listed items as available for a discounted shipping rates programfor shipping one or more of said one or more listed items to apurchasing customer.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein said registeringcomprises including the one or more listed items as available for saidone or more promotional or special handling services, wherein saidincluding comprises including the one or more listed items as availablefor expedited order processing.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein saidregistering further comprising providing one or more pricing suggestionsfor each of said one or more listed items, wherein said one or morepricing suggestions are based on historical pricing information for saidone or more listed items from said fulfillment services provider.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein said single action user interface element isa web-based element, wherein receiving the indication of activation ofthe single action user interface element comprises receiving saidindication via a web-based interface.
 9. A computer-implemented methodfor registering items with a fulfillment services provider, the methodcomprising: performing by one or more computers: determiningidentification information for a merchant; based on the identificationinformation for the merchant, accessing, from an e-commerce provider ofan e-commerce channel listing one or more items for sale for themerchant, stored listing information for one or more listed items thatare already listed for sale by the merchant with the e-commerce providerthrough the e-commerce channel; generating, based on the stored listinginformation, a user interface providing an indication of the one or morelisted items that are already listed for sale by the merchant with thee-commerce provider through the e-commerce channel, wherein orderfulfillment services for the one or more listed items are not currentlyprovided by said fulfillment services provider and are instead providedby the merchant, wherein the user interface provides a single actionuser interface element for the merchant to register the one or morelisted items for order fulfillment service provide by said fulfillmentservices provider instead of the order fulfillment service provide bythe merchant, and wherein the single action user interface elementcorresponds to the one or more listed items accessed based on theidentification information for the merchant; and in response toreceiving an indication of activation of the single action userinterface element, registering the one or more listed items for orderfulfillment services provided by said fulfillment services provider totransition order fulfillment responsibility for the one or more listeditems from the merchant to said fulfillment services provider, whereinregistering the one or more listed items for order fulfillment servicesprovided by said fulfillment services provider includes one or more of:providing to said merchant information or items for conveying units ofthe one or more listed items to said fulfillment services provider,modifying one or more sales listings for the one or more listed items toindicate that orders for the one or more listed items are fulfilled bysaid fulfillment services provider, or including the one or more listeditems as available for one or more promotional or special handlingservices offered for other items for which orders are fulfilled by saidfulfillment services provider.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein saidregistering includes said providing to said merchant the information oritems for conveying units of the one or more listed items to saidfulfillment services provider, wherein providing information or itemsfor conveying units of the one or more listed items comprises providingshipping information comprising one or more of: a shipping list, apacking slip, and a shipping label for said one or more listed items.11. The method of claim 9, wherein said registering includes saidproviding to said merchant the information or items for conveying unitsof the one or more listed items to said fulfillment services provider,wherein providing information or items for conveying units of the one ormore listed items comprises providing to said merchant a packaging kitcomprising shipping containers and instructions for packing particularones of said one or more listed items within particular ones of saidshipping containers.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein said registeringincludes said modifying the one or more sales listings for the one ormore listed items, wherein said modifying further comprises modifyingsaid one or more sales listings such that the one or more sales listingindicate that one or more of said promotional or special handlingservices are available for said one or more listed items.
 13. The methodof claim 9, wherein said registering comprises including the one or morelisted items as available for said one or more promotional or specialhandling services, wherein said including comprises including the one ormore listed items as available for a discounted shipping rates programfor shipping one or more of said one or more listed items to apurchasing customer.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein said registeringcomprises including the one or more listed items as available for saidone or more promotional or special handling services, wherein saidincluding comprises including the one or more listed items as availablefor expedited order processing.
 15. The method of claim 9, wherein saidregistering further comprising providing one or more pricing suggestionsfor each of said one or more listed items, wherein said one or morepricing suggestions are based on historical pricing information for saidone or more listed items from said fulfillment services provider. 16.The method of claim 9, wherein said single action user interface elementis a web-based element, wherein receiving the indication of activationof the single action user interface element comprises receiving saidindication via a web-based interface.
 17. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium, comprising program instructionscomputer-executable to: determine identification information for amerchant; based on the identification information for the merchant,access, from an e-commerce provider of an e-commerce channel listing oneor more items for sale for the merchant, listing information for the oneor more listed items that are already listed for sale by the merchantwith the e-commerce provider through the e-commerce channel; generate,based on the stored listing information, a user interface providing anindication of the one or more listed items that are already listed forsale by the merchant with the e-commerce provider through the e-commercechannel, wherein the user interface provides a single action userinterface element for the merchant to register the one or more listeditems for order fulfillment services provided by a fulfillment servicesprovider other than a particular fulfillment services provider that iscurrently providing fulfillment services for the one or more listeditems listed for sale in the electronic marketplace, and wherein thesingle action user interface element corresponds to the one or morelisted items accessed based on the identification information for themerchant; and in response to receiving an indication of activation ofthe single action user interface element, register the one or morelisted items for order fulfillment services provided by said fulfillmentservices provider to transition order fulfillment responsibility for theone or more listed items from the merchant to said fulfillment servicesprovider.
 18. The medium of claim 17, wherein registering the one ormore listed items for fulfillment by said fulfillment services providerincludes one or more of: providing to said merchant information or itemsfor conveying units of the one or more listed items to said fulfillmentservices provider, modifying one or more sales listings for the one ormore listed items to indicate that orders for the one or more listeditems are fulfilled by said fulfillment services provider, and includingthe one or more listed items as available for one or more promotional orspecial handling services offered for other items for which orders arefulfilled by said fulfillment services provider.
 19. The medium of claim18, wherein said registering includes said providing to said merchantthe information or items for conveying units of the one or more listeditems to said fulfillment services provider, wherein providinginformation or items for conveying units of the one or more listed itemscomprises providing shipping information comprising one or more of: ashipping list, a packing slip, and a shipping label for said one or morelisted items.
 20. The medium of claim 18, wherein said registeringincludes said providing to said merchant the information or items forconveying units of the one or more listed items to said fulfillmentservices provider, wherein providing information or items for conveyingunits of the one or more listed items comprises providing to saidmerchant a packaging kit comprising shipping containers and instructionsfor packing particular ones of said one or more listed items withinparticular ones of said shipping containers.
 21. The medium of claim 18,wherein said registering includes said modifying the one or more saleslistings for the one or more listed items, wherein said modifyingfurther comprises modifying said one or more sales listings such thatthe one or more sales listing indicate that one or more of saidpromotional or special handling services are available for said one ormore listed items.
 22. The medium of claim 18, wherein said registeringcomprises including the one or more listed items as available for saidone or more promotional or special handling services, wherein saidincluding comprises including the one or more listed items as availablefor a discounted shipping rates program for shipping one or more of saidone or more listed items to a purchasing customer.
 23. The medium ofclaim 18, wherein said registering comprises including the one or morelisted items as available for said one or more promotional or specialhandling services, wherein said including comprises including the one ormore listed items as available for expedited order processing.
 24. Themedium of claim 18, wherein said registering further comprisingproviding one or more pricing suggestions for each of said one or morelisted items, wherein said one or more pricing suggestions are based onhistorical pricing information for said one or more listed items fromsaid fulfillment services provider.
 25. The medium of claim 17, whereinsaid single action user interface element is a web-based element,wherein receiving the indication of activation of the single action userinterface element comprises receiving said indication via a web-basedinterface.